


Outlaws

by monlight



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted (Vampire Diaries), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-01-16 10:06:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18519241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monlight/pseuds/monlight
Summary: Hope Mikaelson and Penelope Park have never really been close, but that might change now that they're being forced to spend more time together as roommates — and maybe even more, leading to friendships, relationships, mess, and love triangles.----------------------------------------------------It has been three years since when the finale episode was set. Hope is back from Malivore. Caroline found a cure for the Merge a year ago. Penelope came back from Belgium last year.





	1. Prologue

Penelope sat in front of the headmaster's office, her glare almost burning a hole on his desk.

She had just woken up after being thrown to the wall by none other than her beautiful ex, Josie Saltzman.

But she can't even focus on that.

Because she also currently has no bedroom.

Why, you might ask? Well, that Saltzman also had a particular liking for fire. You do the math.

Penelope has just come back from a party at the old mill of the school property where she had an encounter with a vampire that led to more, well, _interesting_ events.

That vampire was the girl Lizzie has been trying to set up Josie with for the past two weeks. The brunette didn't really like the guy, so she tried telling him and her sister that; but of course Lizzie Saltzman does not back down.

Penelope knew that the girl didn't like the vampire and she hated seeing her being pushed to do what she doesn't want.

So she did the thing that she knew would make Lizzie back off from her sister.

She kissed the guy.

Josie understandably got angry at this.

Here was her obnoxious, evil ex making out with the guy she was dating. What the hell?

So she stormed to Penelope's room after the party, undeniably drunk after a bottle of vodka after seeing the _horrid_ scene.

Penelope's calm demeanor towards her didn't help. _How is she so calm about this? So obnoxious._

And the next thing they know, Penelope was thrown across the room and a fire has started by the plants on her windowsill that soon spread to half of her room. 

  
Penelope’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing and then she was met by Mrs. Tig and Dr. Saltzman offering her small smiles.

“Penelope.” Ms. Tig acknowledges her before leaning against the table. “We are very sorry for what happened tonight, we’ll make sure to get you settled into a comfortable place immediately tonight.”

“And we’ll give the appropriate punishment for the student who caused this.” Dr. Saltzman cuts in on their conversation.

Penelope glares at him. _The student? He’s so disappointed in her he can’t even say her name._

“The student? You mean your daughter, Dr. Saltzman?” Penelope’s words were full of disdain, added to the sarcastic laugh that she lets out, that Alaric could only drop his head. Penelope turns her attention to Emma. “Whatever, so where will I sleep tonight?”

“Well, there are no vacant bedrooms right now and there’s only one student who has no roommate but has a room big enough for two.” Penelope arches an eyebrow at her for her to continue. “Hope Mikaelson.”

The two teachers stare at her expectantly but she only replies with a blank look on her face.

After a few seconds, she finally speaks.

“You know I wish I was drinking something right now so I can do a spit take.”

“Hope is a good student, Penelope, and she’s-“

The girl raises her index finger to stop the headmaster from talking.

“I know what your thoughts about the _golden tribrid_ is, Mr. Saltzman. But whatever, I’ll take it.” She knew that letting the conversation continue would just lead to questions of why she didn’t want to room with Hope and she wasn’t really in the mood to tell the headmaster that _Hope might be dating your daughter who is my ex who I still love, Mr. Saltzman, so no, I do not wanna room with Hope._

“But let me talk to my mother so I can get some of my stuff at home in here. Since most of them are ashes now thanks to a nice brunette girl.” She smiles condescendingly at Alaric, making him bow his head in shame.

While talking on the phone with their family housekeeper, because of course her mother was too busy to answer her, they hear a knock on the door.

“Oh, my dear, what happened to your room?” A concerned voice flows out of the phone, _Lydia_ , their housekeeper since Penelope was even born.

Right on cue, Josie walks in the room, her face filled with sadness and shame.

Their eyes meet and a wave of feelings she couldn’t quite decipher washes over Penelope.

“I left a candle lit up when I left for a party.” The green-eyed witch answered simply, making Alaric, Emma, and Josie all stare at her in shock. “I’m really tired, Lydia. I’m gonna talk to you tomorrow again, okay? I’ll be waiting for my other stuff.”

With that, she ends the call. She stands up to leave the room, followed by Ms. Tig who was going to escort her to Hope’s room.

She doesn’t even spare a glance to the brunette who was standing there with a defeated look on her face. But then she stops just before reaching the door and turns to face the headmaster who was ready to give a whole lecture to his precious daughter. 

“I would like to let my parents believe that I told them truth about what happened, so I expect you to help me do that, Dr. Saltzman. Honesty and integrity are important values for the Parks. ” She speaks so sternly that the older man could only listen. Josie, on the other hand, was stabbed by the last sentence she just said. “It’s the least you can do.”

She smiles a little before turning around and disappearing into the hallway.

 _Oh, Penelope Park_ , was all Josie could think of before it clicks to her that the girl she has just set on fire has spared her from the wrath of the powerful Park family. 

 

* * *

 

Hope Mikaelson and Penelope Park are arguably Salvatore Boarding School's best and brightest.

The two were known for their power, wit, name, and beauty — both held at such high regard by everyone at the school, except by Lizzie Saltzman, of course. The blonde Saltzman thinks that the two are incredibly overrated.

These common denominators, however, has not led the two to go down the path of friendship.

  
Hope Mikaelson was more of a loner.

Being the only one of her kind, she found that it was relatively hard for her to find someone who she completely vibed with.

Nobody really dared to talk to her too. The girl's preference for being by herself and deflecting people's attempts to befriend her paired with the fact that she hails from the most powerful supernatural family being the biggest factors to this.

  
Penelope Park, however, has many friends.

That is, if you count people who follow her orders and wishes to be on the good side of the ever charming and powerful witch as friends. The girl has a charming way of getting people on her side.

The girl always seemed to get what she wanted — material things, power, boys, girls — most of the time without much effort to do so too.

  
In addition to this, Hope was getting closer to Penelope's ex-girlfriend, Josie Saltzman, something that the raven haired witch wasn't particularly fond of.

  
But then again, it would be better to room with the tribrid than in her barbecued room, right?

Besides,  _what could possibly go wrong?_

 

 


	2. I Have A Proposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A deal (or two) is set for the two roommates.

So it turns out that _a lot_ could actually go wrong.

It was a Saturday so Penelope wanted to sleep in, especially with everything that happened last night; but it turns out that Hope had a different plan.

Penelope is awakened by a loud thump on Hope’s side. She quickly gets up at this, afraid that another incident had followed her to a new room.

The quick motion causes a wave of pain to cover her whole back, making her groan in pain.

“Oh my god, I woke you.” Hope mutters as she stands up from the floor.

“No shit, Mikaelson.” Penelope sneers as she adjusts her body to try to ease the pain.

“I’m sorry, I tripped over your bag here. Not used to having roommates.”

“That’s literally the only thing I have aside from the bed.” She snaps back at the tribrid who was just trying to be nice. “And aren’t you supposed to have good coordination with all the training and  _saving the world_ that you do?”

“I’m sorry, alright? I’m trying to be nice here.”

“Whatever, I’m going back to sleep.”

Penelope tries to plop down on the bed but the slightest movement made her wince in pain.

“Are you okay?” Hope approaches her.

“Yeah, you can go now.”

“You really can be rude, huh?”

Penelope sighs. 

“Sorry, my back just hurts really bad.”

“Right, I didn’t know Josie had it in her to do  _this._ " Penelope rolls her eyes at this because she didn't know either. "And Penelope Park saying sorry? Who knew?”

Hope scoffs and watches her wince at the pain before walking to her desk and getting something from her drawer to give to Penelope.

The witch looks at the container filled with leaves on her hand.

“It’s herbal tea.” Hope shrugs. “It’s a family recipe and it helps with healing bruises and stuff like that. Has some magic laced in it too since Dr. Saltzman doesn’t like using our magic too much _to conserve our power or whatever_.”

The two laugh at Hope’s bad impression of the headmaster.

“Thank you. Now you really gotta go because I need sleep.”

Hope leaves and she tries to settle back into bed. Not even a minute later, she hears a few knocks on the door.

Penelope groans before yelling out for anyone who’s out there to enter.

She turns around, expecting to see her new roommate.

“You know you don’t have to knock, Mikaelson, this is your- oh.”

Josie was standing by her doorway, her hands folded awkwardly in front of her.

“Hey.” Josie closes the door behind her before approaching her slowly.

“Look, if you wanna throw me against the wall again, _whatever_ , but the room’s off limits cause I have a roommate now.”

Penelope avoids eye contact before turning her back, trying her best not to wince and let the girl see her in pain.

“I’m here to apologize, actually. I don’t know what came over me. With everything that’s happening right now, I’m just getting so worked up and-“

“And seeing me in pain takes the edge off? You used to use me in a different way for that.” Penelope remarks. She’s sitting up now, staring intently at the brunette.

She could’ve held a grudge on Josie but then what good would that bring? She also knows that the girl’s already punishing herself for what she’s done. Josie can hate people, but she could never hurt them. Eighteen years with a family that holds these grudges so close to their hearts until it poisons them also made Penelope want to be different. So maybe she’ll just forgive Josie now.

Josie was shocked and confused at Penelope’s remark. Is she seriously joking about this right now?

“I get it, Josie, you’re sorry, I don’t wanna hear about it anymore because frankly, I’m still exhausted from last night.” She remarks.

“Oh okay. Well, I’m really sorry. I know you don’t want me here right now too so I’m just gonna go.”

Penelope sighs because _no, Josie, I want you to stay here and take care of me, just like before when I’d get hurt and you’ll even bring me soup and medicine._

Josie scrambles for her words just as Penelope tries to go back to bed but ends up wincing in pain.

“Oh my god, does it hurt that much?”

Josie was now sitting on Penelope’s bed beside her. She touches Penelope’s back, causing the other girl to wince again. She sees a small red spot peeking from the girls shirt.

“Can I?” She asks for Penelope’s permission for her to lift her shirt to check on the damage. The other girl nods.

A huge bruise spanning half of the girl’s back shocked Josie as she did so. She examines it and realizes just how much she hurt the other girl.

“If you wanted to undress me, you could’ve just asked, Jojo.”

Penelope smirks at her own quip, making Josie drop the shirt back down and roll her eyes. The latter was evidently flustered by the nickname and the other girl's suggestion.

“This isn’t funny, Penelope. I didn’t know it was this bad, I really am sorry.”

Her sad pouty face was already enough to make the other girl’s heart soft but she doesn’t show it.

“I’d say my barbecued stuff is worse.” Penelope shrugs. Josie sighs when she realizes that oh my god, that too.

“I’m – “

Josie is cut short by a voice that was unfamiliar to her. They both look up and see a woman around 22 years old, standing in Penelope’s doorway with Ms. Tig. She had long wavy raven hair that flowed perfectly onto her leather jacket – her intimidating aura boosted by her stance, her nose piercing, and high leather boots.

“What the hell happened to you, Penelope?” The girl questions Penelope as she approaches her. Josie stands up, very confused.

“Hello to you too, sister.” Ava smirks sarcastically at her sister and the other girl does the same.

 _Of course this is her sister._ Josie thinks.  _They are so...alike yet so different. Like two versions of the bundle that includes green eyes, raven hair, excessive charm, and confidence._

Two pairs of green eyes glared at each other, leaving Ms. Tig and Josie amused by the exchange.

“You left a candle lit when you went to a party? _Bullshit_.” Once the girl spits the last word, Penelope’s expression falters.

“That’s the truth, Ava.” So that’s her name. _Ava Park._

The girl scoffs and approaches Penelope. “Oh yeah?” And then she nudges Penelope’s arm just enough for her upper body to move, making the girl wince in pain. “See? Bullshit. Now tell me what happened.”

Penelope sighs in defeat, knowing that her sister was not gonna let this go.

“I got thrown onto the wall and then a fire spell got directed to my plants and _bam_! Half of my room is ash.”

Ava’s face was full of anger now. Josie can only pray that she gets out of that room alive when the girl finds out what she did. 

“Who did this to you?”

“Not important.”  _She's covering for me?_

Penelope’s answer didn’t give a hint, but Josie’s nervous gulp and sudden shift in demeanour was enough for the older Park to understand.

“ _You_ did this to her?”

Ava approaches Josie so aggressively that the brunette had to shut her eyes, too afraid to see what has gonna hit her. But nothing does, and as she opens her eyes she sees Emma and Penelope between her and Ava.

“It was an accident, Ava.”

Ava looks at Penelope like she just grew a second head.

“How do you accidentally throw someone onto a wall or burn their fucking room?” Ava was fuming now, her green eyes going dark.

“I said it was an accident, just drop it, Ava.”

“Nobody hurts a Park...” she stops before sighing, calming down a little. “ _My sister_ and doesn’t pay for it.”

She turns her attention to Josie and the siphon thinks she might get burned just by her stare.

“I’ll make her pay for it.” Penelope’s words drip out of her mouth with so much sincerity that Josie actually gets scared. Now she has two Parks on her back. Great.  _Maybe two isn't better than one all the time._

"You better.” Ava then turns to face Ms. Tig. “I would like to talk to my sister’s roommate.”

“Okay, let’s go to my office. Penelope, you should come with us, and Josie, I’ll talk to you later.” Ms. Tig says.

“I’ll just change.” Penelope answers.

Ava glares at Josie and tilts her head towards the door. Josie leaves because at least the girl let her out of there alive.

“You should, you look like a hobbit.” Ava tells Penelope before a smirk appears on both their faces.

“Shut up, Ava.”

 

* * *

 

When Penelope enters Emma’s office, she sees the guidance counselor there, of course, then her sister, and Hope Mikaelson.

“What is _she_ doing here?”

“Hope here is gonna make sure that Josie Saltzman doesn’t hurt you anymore.” Ava’s tone when she says Josie’s name tells Penelope that her sister was upset that not only did she let herself be hurt but more importantly, by her ex girlfriend.

“I don’t need a babysitter!” Penelope throws her hands to the air, frustrated at the idea of having Hope watch over her. It was enough that she had to deal with the loner tribrid as her roommate, she can't push the girl's introvertedness any further.

“That’s what I told them.” Hope shrugged.

“Why did you even agree to this, mutt?” Penelope’s green eyes were at a stare off with Hope’s blue ones now.

“I got a deal.”

“I can see how being with me would sound nice, but-“

The tribrid rolls her eyes at this. Josie was right, she is obnoxious.

“Take it down a notch, Queen Elizabeth. I can be exempted from the five required extracurricular event attendances I have left if I do this.” Hope shrugs again. Students are required to attend at least eight extracurricular events for every year, and Hope has never been a fan of that.

“Oh my god, _that_ made you agree? That’s so pathetic! You know what? Fine!”

Penelope was going to start another sentence of her rant when her sister starts talking again.

“Now about that Saltzman girl’s punishment.”

“ _Ava_. Drop it.”

“Penelope. She has to own up to her mistakes, she has to stand up for herself.”

Ava’s final words obviously struck Penelope because she starts to shift in her position and stays quiet.

“Since she clearly still doesn’t know about your Belgium expedition.”

Penelope blinks at this. Emma and Hope stare at two, not really knowing but to say but knowing fully well that this is a conversation for the sisters only.

“Two weeks of detention and community service. Well, just service here since they’re not allowed outside the campus, right?”

Ava's tone suggests that she was not asking, she was telling. 

“Right.” Emma nods. “That sounds reasonable. I’m gonna take that up to Dr. Saltzman and get back to you.”

Ava lets out a sarcastic laugh.

“ _Reasonable_? She almost broke my sister’s back and burned half of her room. That punishment is not nearly enough. And you’ll take it up to her father? How _fair_.” Ms. Tig sighs at this. Dealing with Parks seem to be frustrating everyone nowadays. “I’m going to expect all of this to be in place when I come back. I don’t think anyone will like it if I don’t.”

She gives a small smirk to Ms. Tig. Penelope rolls her eyes at her sister’s cocky attitude. And Hope smiles amused at the exchange.

After a while, Hope leaves and Ava finishes talking to Ms. Tig.

As the sisters exit the room, heads quickly turned to them.

They looked like something out of a movie:  two beautiful and powerful sisters rule the world – and they very well could be the real life version of that movie  

They walk with their heads held high, similar raven hair, green eyes, charm, and confidence commanding all eyes to look at them in the hallway.

Everything was going smoothly until they reach the main door, where they come face to face with the Saltzman twins.

None of the three Salvatore students dared to speak a word, not even Lizzie, knowing what her sister did last night.

But of course Ava does.

“Oh look, if it isn’t Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” Her smirk irritated Lizzie like Penelope’s does, if not more. Yet she still kept quiet. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

Lizzie rolled her eyes, clearly trying to stop herself from throwing an insult, while Josie stood with her face so red as she stared at the floor. Penelope tried to stifle her laugh caused by amusement at the blonde’s reservation.

“Listen, wannabe Serena and Blair, if you even dare poke my sister, I’m gonna burn your hair off. Even worse than what _you_ did.” Her green eyes were full of anger that Josie thinks she might combust right there. She didn't even have to look up to know that the girl was glaring at her.

Penelope knew no one was gonna move, so she links her sister’s arm and they turn back to get out of the building, matching smirks and hair flips as they do.

“That was awesome.” Penelope laughed as they reach her sister’s Rolls Royce that was waiting out front.

“Even the insult to your dear Josie wasn’t much?” Her sister scrunches her nose at this, making her roll her eyes.

“Maybe she deserved it.” Penelope shrugged.

And with that the sisters laughed and Ava went on her way.

 

* * *

 

When Penelope goes back to their room, Hope was sitting on her bed, reading a book.

“Glad you’re back, kid.”

“Don’t ever call me that again, mutt.” Penelope spits out before plopping down on her bed. “You shouldn’t have accepted the deal. Though I know my sister can be very-“

“Bossy? Manipulative?”

“Convincing. But yeah those too.”

The two girls laugh at this, and after a few seconds of silence, Penelope sits up and speaks again, facing her new roommate.

“Me sticking with you means Josie will try avoiding you too and she seems to be very fond of you lately,” Penelope actually looked concerned, something Hope rarely saw in the girl, maybe only when it comes to Josie — but then she deadpans and shrugs. “I don’t even know why.”

Hope chuckles at this and Penelope joins her. “Here I thought we were being nice.”

“Okay so I have a proposition.” Hope sits up properly to face Penelope when she hears this. “You only stick with me during classes that we have together, we’re in the same 6 advanced classes anyway, so that’s a long time, and dinner. That way, the teachers will think you’re holding up your end of the deal and I still have time to spend with my friends of the same social rank.”

Hope rolls her eyes at the last part, knowing that it was a joke.

“And so Josie doesn’t lose a friend, right?” The tribrid mocks the other girl, earning a pillow thrown at her.

“Shut it, _mutt_. So, do we have a deal?” Penelope reaches out her hand for Hope to shake.

“A handshake? Very formal, _muggle_.” Penelope’s nose scrunches at the nickname.

“I am not a muggle! I’m literally a witch!” The girl who is an avid fan of the Harry Potter series, looked hurt at the comment.

“Just that? Seems too plain for me. And hey! You call me mutt!”

Penelope sighs, Hope had a point.

“Whatever. Do we have a deal, mutt?”

“Deal, muggle.”

The two shake hands.

Little did they know this whole deal might just turn their lives around.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to imagine what Ava would look like, but if I kind of picture her being played maybe by Lauren Jauregui!


	3. Protect Penelope Park at All Costs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Penelope follows through with their deals, leading to Hope finding out about Penelope's "Belgium expedition."

Penelope is a morning person. That is the first thing Hope learns about her new roommate. Though the girl’s ever present grumpiness may suggest otherwise, Penelope Park actually likes waking up early so she can get a head start for the day.

Hope was thankful for this fact because then she won’t have to eat breakfast alone in an almost empty dining room. Most students get their breakfast at around 7:30, while she does around 7. Not that it bothered her, but having someone to accompany her while eating doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Besides, she has observed that Penelope doesn’t have her minions with her yet during breakfast and being seen with her means she can convince Emma and Alaric better that she was holding her end of the deal. She would eat with Josie, but the girl was attached to the hip to her sister and Hope would rather not start her day being showered by insults by Lizzie Saltzman.

When Penelope gets out of the bathroom, Hope was already ready for breakfast.

“Hey, let’s grab breakfast together.” She tells the other girl who was now drying her hair.

Penelope raises her eyebrows in question. “Can’t get enough of me already?”

“You wish, muggle. But you eat breakfast alone anyway, if Ms. Tig sees us eating at different tables in a big empty room, she’d get suspicious.”

Hope has a point, _of course_ , but Penelope doesn’t back down just yet. “So you watch me in the dining room, huh?”

“I’m very observant, Penelope.”

“Fine. I’ll be done in five.”

Hope was sure that Penelope was gonna take longer, the girl always shows up looking ready for a photoshoot or something. To her surprise, Penelope does finish in five minutes. Hmm, maybe being Penelope Park doesn’t take that much effort then.

 

* * *

 

 

The two were getting along quite well as they sat together eating breakfast. It turns out that they had the same enthusiasm for comic books and superheroes. Hope is a big Marvel fan and Penelope is a huge DC fan — this somehow makes their conversation more interesting.

While they debate about how Batman might be the best DC hero, however, a blonde silhouette approaches them with a disgusted look on her face.

“I didn’t know the spawns of satan have meetings this early in the morning?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, Lizzie. Do you have meetings scheduled right now?” Penelope retorts quickly, making Hope chuckle in front of her.

Josie appears beside Lizzie, her eyes scanning Hope for a second before settling on Penelope and giving her a sad smile.

The green-eyed witch feels her stomach drop at this. Josie shouldn't feel this guilty.  _Yes_ , her back still hurt from being thrown across the room, _yes_ , half of her stuff got burnt by the fire, and _yes_ , it was Josie’s doing — but all of that wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t push her buttons too much, so partially, it was Penelope’s fault too.

But their eye contact only lasts for a moment because Josie turns her attention back to her sister. It has been a year after the cure for the Merge has been found, yet ghosts of Josie and her codependency still seems to be haunting them.

“Lizzie, I’m hungry, let’s go.” Josie drags her sister by the arm to get food but not before Hope throws back a banter.

“Yeah, Lizzie, I heard you hellhounds need a lot of carbs.”

The two laugh as Lizzie shoots them a glare, Josie escorting her away.

“Why does Lizzie still hate you? I heard you two got along shortly after I left before?”

Penelope’s question makes Hope think. She realizes she doesn’t have an answer too. She thought she was getting somewhere with Lizzie after they found out that Hope did none of what the blonde was so mad at her for, but then the Lizzie just slowly became her old bitchy self.

“I honestly don’t know either. We did get kind of close, almost friends, you know? But then she just slowly turned back to the bitchy Lizzie who hated me?”

Penelope nods at this, as if Lizzie being a bitch was just a natural thing.

“You still love Josie.” Hope’s words make Penelope look at her in shock. She already knows who Hope was talking about. _Who does she think she is making all these accusations?_

She shakes her head and chuckles at the tribrid’s statement.

“And you’re not even denying it.”

 _My love for Josie is something I would never deny, not again,_ she wanted to say, but she doesn’t feel comfortable enough to tell Hope that.

“What’s it to you? Afraid I’ll mess up your plan to snatch her up?”

Hope laughs. Like, really laughs, as if Penelope has just told her the funniest joke ever.

“Oh my god. Is that why you’re rude to me? You thought Josie and I have a thing?” Hope asks in between laughs. When she calms herself down a little, she looks at Penelope who was looking at her with so much annoyance. She could’ve enjoyed ruffling her feathers more, but decided against it in favor of their lowkey friendship that she felt budding earlier. “Josie’s like my sister, dude, and I’m not one for incest.”

Penelope looks away but the relief was evident on her face.

“I have an idea.” Hope chirps.

“I’m not interested in your ideas, _Elon Mutt_ , can we just finish breakfast?”

“We can, but also, my idea.” Hope shifts in her seat and crosses both of her arms on the table, leaning closer to Penelope. “We’re gonna get you your girl back.”

Confidence was oozing in Hope’s voice, making Penelope snicker. Like it’s that easy.

“Hey! She’s single now and seeing you two back together is surely gonna get Lizzie all worked up so that’s gonna be fun to watch. Win-win situation.”

Hope shrugs. Penelope can’t believe she’s actually considering it. _1) This will be another deal with the mutt. 2) She doesn’t want to deal with Lizzie again. 3) Has Josie even moved on from her last relationship yet? (They broke up two months ago, but their relationship only lasted three months and the girl wasn’t even that cute.) And 4) She didn’t want to keep secrets from Josie if they get back together again which means telling her about Belgium and she doesn’t know if she’s ready for that._

“I’m not stopping until you agree, muggle.” Hope was now throwing corn at her continuously.

“Stop it, mutt!” She starts throwing corn back at Hope too. Before all of it turns into an all-out food fight, she sighs and lets all her reasons go. The other students are probably looking at them like they've just lost their minds, but they didn't care. “Whatever, whatever, just stop hitting me with corn!”

Hope stops and smirks at her.

“Then we have a deal, muggle.” She’s the one reaching out her hand now.

“Deal, mutt.” They shake hands and Penelope rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, third deal with you in two days. This will be a nightmare.”

“Or a daydream.”

 

* * *

 

Penelope receives a text from her newly found partner in crime during her last class before lunch break.

 

> **Hope** : gonna run a little late at lunch today, don’t wait up

_Wow, we sound like best friends already, gross_ , Penelope thinks.

 

> **Penelope** : Okay, but nobody stands me up, Mikaelson.
> 
> **Hope** : sure, evil temptress. and wow, perfect punctuation, huh?

Penelope actually smiles at this, surprising even herself. The perfect punctuation and grammar is one of the things people noticed about her when they get a little closer.

 

> **Penelope** : See you later, mutt.
> 
> **Hope** : see you, muggle

  
She keeps her phone before she gets caught and continues listening to the lecture.

 

* * *

 

Penelope just sat down on one of the tables for four in the dining room. It was the smallest table around and she wasn’t really in the mood to deal with any of her many admirers (she’s not even trying to hype this up).

“Hey, Pen, this seat taken?” She looks up to see Sofia, a vampire who has been trying to hit it off with her for weeks now. She looks at the time, Hope’s ten minutes late already so maybe she can just eat with Sofia. The girl’s really nice and pretty anyway.

But before she could answer, a voice speaks up from behind her.

“Yep, sorry.” She turns around and sees Hope, holding her tray of food in front of her. She shifts her gaze a little and meets chocolate brown eyes.

 _Josie_.

 _What the fuck is Hope up to?_ She knew the girl can be headstrong but it’s only been four hours since their deal.

As she watches the two take their seat, she realizes Sofia is long gone. Hope seats directly in front of her and Josie by the redhead’s side.

“I love the caf’s chocolate muffin.” Hope chirps before biting down on her dessert.

“Careful now, I heard chocolate’s poisonous to dogs. And dessert comes after dinner.”

“Ha-ha. And when are you one for the rules, Park?” Hope wiggles her eyebrows at her and she feels the girl kicking her from below the table – a clear sign of the girl telling her to acknowledge Josie.

She sighs a little before turning her attention to Josie who was quietly getting through her mac and cheese.

“Haven’t talked to you in ages, Jo. How are you?” Penelope says casually, a small smile playing on her lips.

Josie looks relieved that she didn’t need to be the one to break the awkwardness floating between her and her ex.

“Really good, classes are great.”

“That’s great, are you going to college?”

Penelope already knew the answer to this. It was a topic several times during her and Josie’s quiet nights together spent talking about their plans, most of which included them together. _Guess those plans are not viable now._ But Josie does want to go to college. She wants to study Psychology then go to med school and specialize in Pediatrics.

But of course she still asks because it has been more than three years since they talked about it and a lot of things could have changed.

“Yep. Psychology, remember?” Josie smiles at her, and Penelope couldn’t help but smile back. She remembers their talks too.

“Right.”

Maybe Hope’s plan isn’t too bad, after all.

 

* * *

 

 

After lunch, Josie was the first one to excuse herself. She always wanted to get ready before class to make sure she’s ready for the rest of the day.

“That went well.” Hope nudges Penelope as they walk towards their next class together. Penelope rolls her eyes, determined not to let Hope know that she’s right. “Good thing Lizzie was preoccupied with her new vampire boyfriend earlier. I’m thinking next time we go for dinner.”

“Slow down, Mikaelson. You’re getting too fond of me. Our deal says lunch and class only, you’ve already hogged my breakfast time.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I’m very headstrong about my plans, you know?”

“I've noticed. How did you even make Josie agree to have lunch with her obnoxious, evil ex?”

“I didn’t tell her.”

“Hope! You can’t just blindside her!” She punches the tribrid playfully and the other girl reacts with exaggeratedly.

“Protective ex-girlfriend, soft. And I can do whatever I want.”

“Fuck you.”

“Aww stop proclaiming your love for me, Pen.”

Penelope flicks a finger on Hope’s forehead and the tribrid’s mouth dropped open. Before she can reply, the teacher clears his throat and the class starts.

 

* * *

 

Penelope avoids having dinner and eats in their room instead. But the food she gets is not enough, so she decides to head out again to get some snacks from the kitchen.

She hears a familiar laugh from the other side of the door. Josie. But she can’t keep avoiding the girl, right? So she enters the room.

_Wrong. Fucking. Choice._

Right before her eyes was the girl she loved kissing a vampire who’s name she can’t be bothered to know.

The two turn their heads to the door when they heard someone come in.

Josie’s heart suddenly dropped. _Oh my god. Penelope._

Wait, she didn’t care about Penelope anymore. She convinces herself that the ugly pit forming in her stomach is caused by embarrassment for herself and the vampire for being caught and not because Penelope just saw her kissing another girl.

“Sorry, I- I’m going.” And Penelope was out of the kitchen in record time.

Penelope rushes out of there as fast as she can, her hunger now long forgotten. She walks so fast, her head clouded with the vision of Josie kissing that stupid vampire and her thoughts filled by Josie’s beautiful laugh.

She’s so distracted she doesn’t notice that another girl was walking towards her until they bump into each other.

“Hey, muggle!” Hope’s voice which has now become familiar to her greeted. Her expression changed as she sees Penelope’s face masked with confusion and sadness. “Hey, are you okay?”

Right on cue, Josie and her vamp friend comes out of the kitchen. Hope and her lock eyes for a second before the siphon leaves completely with her apparent new girl.

“Let’s go.” Hope drags Penelope across the hallway as soon as Josie is out of sight, but not before stopping by their room to grab a paper bag.

She leads Penelope to a dock near the old mill before taking out what is in the bag.

 _Alcohol_.

“I guess I know what sorrows we’re drowning.” Hope states before opening the bottle and taking a sip. She hands Penelope the bottle. “Talk.”

“Well, you can infer what I saw.”

“I don’t get it. If you loved her as much as I can see you do, why’d you leave her? Especially, Belgium, _really_?”

Penelope takes a long sip.

“Just know I do everything on-“

“On purpose, yes MG mentioned. But what could possibly be the reason, Penelope? She needed you then after you dropped the Merge bomb on her.”

Penelope lets out a small laugh. A sad one.

“There goes your purpose.”

Penelope didn’t want it to slip. Now Hope has a little more context about the whole Belgium thing than she wanted. But then Hope looks at her hopefully, like she’s waiting for a friend pour out her feelings.

_Is that what they are now? Friends?_

Aside from Josie and MG, Hope is the only one in the school she actually feels quite comfortable with.

_Maybe we are friends._

The sight of Josie another girl fills her thoughts again and fuck it, maybe it would be good to let someone know.

“I wasn’t in Belgium.”

“No shit, Penelope.” She looks at Hope with shock. _What? How did she know?_ “Your sister’s tone back in Emma’s office about your _Belgium expedition_ was a nice hint. So hit me with the truth, muggle. I’ve got time.”

Penelope sighs and makes a mental note to kill her sister for this.

“Well I was there four days a week for school. On other days I’d travel and meet with Caroline. I convinced her to let me help her find the cure for the Merge. Damn, that girl was hard to convince, I know now why Lizzie is so damn stubborn.” The two girls laugh at this. Hope tries to wrap her head around what Penelope told her.

Sitting beside her is Penelope Park, the girl that Josie and Lizzie has always considered the obnoxious, selfish, evil witch.

Now with only the moonlight and the faint yellow light from the flashlight she brought from her room, she sees Penelope Park in a different light. She sees the most selfless girl she’s ever met at this school. She sees a girl who would do anything and everything for the girl she loved and even the girl who hated her the most. Even if it meant that she would face all the dangers of this supernatural world. And she did it with such pure goodness and selflessness that she didn’t even feel the need to tell them that.

She smiles at the girl and holds her hand. Penelope looks up at her and smiles back.

This might be the most intimate experience they’ve had together.

“And then I helped her. My mother was the harder one to convince though. She thinks it was a stupid idea to get involved in another coven’s mess. My mother is...headstrong if you can call it that. And she wanted our family to be the leaders of our coven. We had the money, the charm, the power, she thinks we deserve leadership, so if I mess up, that’s shit for us.”

Hope nods, she feels for the girl, knowing how she had to carry the Mikaelson name too. But she doesn’t speak. This is not about her as she realizes this might be the first time that things are about Penelope.

“I travelled around Europe for two years. I thought I had to stop after a year and a half though. We encountered this witch who hated what we were doing because she believed that the Merge was part of the natural order of things. How can she fucking think that? Letting siblings kill each other? That’s so absurd.”

Penelope’s eyes were furrowed, her face covered with anger and confusion.

“She tried to stop us and she hexed me and I-“ Penelope instinctively brings a hand to her left side, by her ribs. She drops her hand immediately when she realizes what she’s done, but not before Hope noticed.

“What happened?” Hope speaks up after a while. Penelope doesn’t answer immediately, she couldn’t tell the story of how much it hurt and how it felt lying in a pool of her own blood, the world buzzing around her.

 _It's okay, Penelope, it's Hope._ She convinces herself so she can finally let everything out. 

Instead the raven-haired witch shifts to pull her shirt up.

Hope couldn’t even speak. A long scar runs from below her ribs to her navel, just slightly curved. It almost looks like a crooked way to write the letter “J.”

Hope asks Penelope for permission and the girl nods. She reaches out her hand and feels the scar. It feels weird for both of them, not because the contact felt awkward but because it was comfortable.

“Ironic how it kinda looks like a J too, huh? Fate played me like a bitch.” Penelope laughs but her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Yeah, fate is a bitch.” Hope says quietly before looking back at the lake.

The two sit in the darkness for a while, finishing the bottle of vodka that Hope brought and talking about everything and nothing.

Penelope feels like a weight was just lifted off her shoulders.

Hope feels like she found a new world — Penelope’s. She feels like she’s part of that world too, the same way the other girl was part of hers. And somehow she feels the need to protect Penelope Park at all costs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment what you guys think and what you want to see!


	4. Outlaws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Hope and Jed's help, Josie almost confronts Penelope. 
> 
> Will seeing the Outlaws change her mind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quite long ~Phosie~ chapter for y'all! 
> 
> I'd really appreciate it if you guys comment what you think about it by the way! ❤️

Josie has been avoiding a _certain_ raven haired witch since _that_ night in the kitchen. And since Penelope has been spending most of her free time with Hope nowadays, Josie’s been avoiding her friend too.

Today is her third day of doing this, and she’s confident that Hope hasn’t noticed her being less of a clingy friend lately. So when Hope comes up to her during an advanced class she’s that they’re taking together, she was certain that she can just dodge an invitation to hang out again.

But of course she was wrong.

“Nope, you’re not rejecting my offer again.” Hope says sternly as she crosses her arms and glares at Josie.

“I have homework, Hope.”

“Exams are next week, teachers don’t give homeworks the week before the exams. Try again.”

Josie sighs. _Why is she making this so hard right now?_

“Well, I have to study for the exams then.”

“Study with me. I get A’s in this class all the time, not that I need them.”

“I get A+.” Josie shrugs, making Hope roll her eyes.

“Okay, hotshot. Look, I know you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’m not,” Josie says too quickly and too defensively. Hope raises her eyebrows condescendingly. “Fine, I _might have_  be avoiding you a little. Just a _tiny_ bit.”

“Because of Penelope?” Hope sounds more like she’s making a statement than asking a question. “Look, I get it, what happened in the kitchen between you two was awkward, but I would’ve thought it wouldn’t bother you that much since you say you don’t care about her all the time.”

“Mhmm. Sure.”

Josie sighs again. She really didn’t wanna get in an argument right now. And she also _absolutely_ did not want to avoid Hope. Since she admitted what happened about the fire incident and the tribrid forgave her, they’ve grown to be really close and she didn’t want to lose that friendship. Especially since Hope can literally leave the school anytime she wants. She graduated last year and is only spending her gap year here training with her dad and getting advanced classes she wanted to retake – something Josie didn’t really get since the girl could’ve just done all that with her family, she’s a freaking Mikaelson anyway.

So yeah, Josie didn’t want to avoid one of her best friends. It’s just that she’s always with Penelope. At breakfast, at lunch, in all but one of her advanced classes, and of course when they’re in their room. And she just can’t be with Penelope right now. The way Penelope’s _annoying, beautiful_ , green eyes looked at her when she saw them in the kitchen still tugs at Josie’s heart when she thinks of it.

Surely, it’s not that she feels bad for her, right? _Penelope_ broke _Josie’s_ heart, so there’s no way Josie should feel bad. If anything, Penelope should be the one feeling bad for walking in on Josie's moment (she does feel bad, by the way, but of course Josie didn't know that).

Except she does.

Because those goddamn green eyes looked at her like she just broke the other girl too and Josie’s heart broke with her.

But of course Josie doesn’t tell Hope this. Instead, she decides to just let it go.

“You know what? Fine. Let’s study together in the library.”

After a few minutes of studying in the library, which really only meant them catching up, laughing, and avoiding any mention of Josie’s _evil_ ex, Hope finally slips up when she mentions a joke Pen made last night. The tribrid was quick to notice the sudden change in Josie’s demeanor.

Pen. The nickname rings in Josie’s ears when Hope says it nonchalantly. _They have nicknames for each other now?_ Josie thought.

Penelope doesn't like being called by nicknames, she wanted people to call her Penelope and Penelope only. Nicknames were reserved for people who are close enough to her for her to let them refer to her by another name, which meant MG, her siblings, and before they came to a bitter end, Josie. Well, except Lizzie, but she let it slip because Lizzie won’t bother to stop anyway. (Though if you ask Penelope, she’d add that she can’t hex Josie’s sister just to stop her anyway.)

_So they’re really close now, huh?_ Oh, if Josie only knew.

“ _Pen_? Wow, you guys must be really close now.” Josie says and Hope swears she can hear a strain of jealousy there, but she brushes it off and shrugs. Hope knows about Penelope’s thing with nicknames too.

“I guess she’s alright.”

The two chuckle.

“Who would’ve thought.” Josie continues and oh that’s definitely jealousy.

“Careful, you’re starting to sound like Lizzie.”

Hope flips a page of the book she’s holding and looks at Josie accusingly. The brunette shifts in her seat. _Does she really sound like Lizzie?_

“But yeah, she’s fun to be with so…” Hope continues when Josie doesn’t answer.

“Well you’re together 24/7 so she _should_ be fun.” Josie’s words come out a little more bitter than she intended it to, making her pause in silence too.

“Wait, are you jealous?”

Find a way to retract this, Josie, think.

“Well, like you said, you’re my best friend, and she’s hogging all your time.” This wasn’t enough to convince Hope though.

“You sure _that’s_ what you’re jealous about?” Hope arches an eyebrow at Josie, flipping a page again.

“What else would I be jealous about?”

Another eyebrow arch. Another flip. _Oh my god, she can be incredibly annoying sometimes._

“You can’t seriously be suggesting…”

“Oh _I am_. Speak.” Hope says and Josie rolls her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood for a banter right now. And she also hasn’t thought about it but _oh my god_ , is she actually jealous of Hope? She can’t be. _It’s been three damn years_ , she can’t be...right?

“It’s not that, okay?” Josie wishes Hope would just drop it now, but instead she puts her book down and leans closer to Josie. She stares at Josie with those damn ocean eyes.

_So annoying._

  
No, she’s not jealous of Hope. She’s not jealous that Hope spends breakfast and lunch with Penelope. She’s not jealous that Hope gets to hear Penelope’s daily rant about her life realizations at night (it was just a Penelope thing to philosophize before sleeping). She’s not jealous that she saw Penelope give Hope half her chocolate muffin every time it was on the menu. She’s not jealous that Hope has a nickname for Penelope now. She’s not jealous that Hope gets to have what she used to with Penelope.

Okay, maybe she is a _little_ jealous. Just a _tiny_ bit.

“Okay, fine. Maybe a little, okay?” Hope leans back with a smug look on her face. “It’s just that Penelope always has this stone cold bitch façade for everybody, but before, when you know…when we were together, she’d drop all that and she’s so nice to me.” Josie’s voice fades and she drops her head to stare at the same oage she’d been on for the past five minutes.

“But now she’s doing that for you and…” she couldn’t find the right words. “It doesn’t feel as special anymore.”

“Trust me, Jo, you’re special.” Hope chuckles at her. Josie looks up at her friend. _How dare she laugh at me? But, wait, I’m special? Did Penelope tell her that? No, Hope is just joking around._

“You know, when we were first subjected to spending time with each other, Penelope and I made a plan of when we’d hang out. We planned it around our schedules, of course, and Emma’s, and your dad’s, and _yours_.” Josie meets Hope’s eyes that looked at her with a knowing look. “She knew you’d try to avoid me if I was with her so she freed up some time for you to not avoid me too.”

_She really did that? And she knows about me trying to avoid her? No, she probably just used that as an excuse and all of it was for Hope, her new best friend. Hope is_ my _best friend._

“Maybe that’s for you, so you won’t lose a friend.”

Hope sighs at her friend’s stubbornness. Here she was telling her that Penelope isn’t as bad as she thinks she is, yet she’s still finding a loophole to prove otherwise. She wants Josie to know that Penelope is so far from the evil that she and her sister thinks of her as. If she didn’t know any better, she’d tell Josie everything now, but she does know better, and it isn’t her place to tell Josie everything.

“Trust me, Josie. It is for you.” A lot of things Penelope does is. For a second, Hope feels anger towards Josie because how can she treat Penelope like this? But then she remembers that Josie doesn’t know. She might never do.

 

* * *

 

When Hope was walking back to her room from the library, she looks out the window and out to the backyard to see her roommate sitting there alone. She figures the two of them didn’t need any more moments alone so she approaches her.

“I don’t think Batman will show up if you just stare at the dark.” She takes a seat beside Penelope who only shakes her head at her comment.

“Careful, you’re turning into a DC fan.”

“Maybe I am.” Hope shrugs and they both just smile at this. “Why are you sulking here alone?”

“I was at a game night with some witches but it got boring.” Hope nods in understanding. Penelope gets invited to a lot of sleepovers and game nights, which is often considering that they are in a boarding school and they all just had to go to each other’s rooms anyway, but the raven-haired girl always seems to gravitate back to her own room when the party is over.

“Let’s do something fun then.” Hope suggests. She doesn’t really have anything specific in mind, she wasn’t one for going out anyway.

“Let’s go to town.” Penelope suggests excitingly. Okay, definitely not what Hope had in mind.

“You’ll get in trouble.” Penelope snickers at Hope's comment. She technically wasn't a student anymore, so she's not worried, but Penelope was. 

“I might. But really, I don’t think Alaric would want to put me in detention with his daughter _who just burned my room down_. Plus, he trusts you so that might help.”

“Using me for leverage, I see.” Penelope rolls her eyes before nudging Hope with her elbow. “Okay, let’s go.”

 

* * *

  


“So where are we going?” Hope asks as she hops into the car. Penelope and her have just snuck out of school and are going into town in an Uber that Penelope booked as they were running across the front yard trying not to get caught.

“It’s a secret.” Penelope shoots her a wink which Hope replies to with a punch on her arm.

“C’mon. You sound like a guy from a rom com.”

“Eww. Fine. We’re going to an arcade that Ava used to take me when she’d visit me here. It’s open 24/7 and even has a bowling alley so it’s great.”

“It better be.”

When the two arrive at the arcade, they are welcomed by bright neon lights and loud chatter from dozens of people buzzing around. Hope is quite surprised, it’s already 9pm and she hasn’t seen Mystic Falls this lively this late at night.

“Whoever wins buys us milkshake.” The raven-haired witch challenges as she poses with a toy gun that’s attached to one of the games. They’ve been here for a while and they’ve only played more mellow games like the crane machine.

Hope approaches the game and takes the gun on the other side. “You better get your money ready then.”

A few minutes later, Penelope is challenging her to yet another game.

“This time, the loser buys fries.” She hands hope a token to put into the basketball game and Penelope seemed to be at her very competitive mode.

“Are you sure you wanna buy more food?” Hope taunts the other girl who has just suffered a very bitter loss at the shooting game. Hope had killed off all her characters when she had only killed one of Hope’s and she was determined to prove herself.

“Don’t be too cocky, mutt.” She says as she puts the token in.

The game lets out ringing sounds _...3...2...1…_

The girls try to get as many points as they can, starting slowly at first to get more precise shots, but losing their composure when the ring starts to move from left to right for the harder levels.

There was only 15 seconds left and the scores were at 216-208 in favor of Penelope.

_I’m not losing this_ , Hope thought.

So she snatches one of the balls on Penelope’s side just before the girl could grab it and shoots it on her side.

_10 seconds._

Penelope was shocked by what Hope has just done while the other took another one of the balls on her side and continues to shoot the balls from her own side.

“Hey!”

_5 seconds._

_216-213._

Penelope tries to get the balls back to her side while continues shooting, laughing at her for being so flustered.

_3 seconds._

_216-216._

_3...2…_

Hope releases another ball that goes straight into the ring. 3 points.

_216-219._

“Guess you’re buying fries too.” Hope smiles at Penelope with a smug smile plastered on her lips before walking. 

“That’s not fair!” Penelope complains as she follows the tribrid who was already walking to the food court part of the arcade. The place was huge, yet the only place that offered a little quiet was the small food court by on the other end of it, and Hope desperately wanted a little quiet now.

Hope quickly orders for them as she reaches the counter.

“ _All is fair in love and war_ , muggle.”

“Don’t quote profound words to me. Cheater.”

Hope laughs at Penelope’s overacting.

Penelope laughs too. It has been three months since she came back to Salvatore and this might be the first time that she felt happy in Mystic Falls since then.

_Who would’ve thought that it would be because of Hope Mikaelson?_

“I told Josie that you cared about her earlier.” Hope says casually as she sips on her strawberry milkshake that Penelope paid for begrudgingly.

“ _What_?”

“Your name came up in one of our conversations so,” Hope just shrugs.

“So you just casually slipped in there that I was still hung up on her?”

“I didn’t say _you were hung up_ on her, I said _you care_ about her. Two different things.”

“Whatever. It’s not like she cares anyway.” Penelope’s tone could’ve fooled Hope, but the way her eyes seemed to dull a little gave her away.

_But she does._ Hope wanted to say, _but what good would it bring Penelope to just give her hope that Josie and her would be in better terms if such big secrets are hiding between them?_

“When you came back to Mystic Falls, did you think you and Josie would just go back to how you guys used to be without telling her everything?”

Penelope almost chokes on her drink when Hope asks her this. 

_What has gotten into her that she’s asking me all this right now?_

“Just going in straight for the kill, huh?”

“No, really. I mean, you would’ve thought of how she would be feeling with all that happened, right?”

Penelope sighs. Of course she thought of it. She thought of everything.

“I didn’t. Well, I mean, I did. I went back with Ms. Forbes to Mystic Falls last year, you know? I wasn determined to tell her everything, even Lizzie." Hope raises her eyebrows in question. “It was the day before Miss Mystic Falls. But then I saw her practicing a dance with…”

“With _me_.” Hope says slowly, in realization of what Penelope was implying. “You know we weren’t together then though, right? We never-”

“Yes, Hope, I know. Jed and MG told me the same thing.” Hope releases a breath that she didn’t even realize she was holding. “I asked them to keep an eye on Josie, not to keep tabs on her or shoo away her suitors, but look after her you know? Anyway, but yeah, I saw you guys and I knew how Josie used to feel about you.”

“She was like _12_ then.”

“True. Yeah, I know that, but it doesn’t mean…” Penelope’s words falter and Hope only nods, understanding what Penelope was gonna say. _Knowing that the person you love has felt for somebody else the way they felt for you,  that someone else is capable of making them feel the way you do, can hurt even if it was a lifetime ago._

“And she seemed happy. I figured if she’s moved on, I shouldn’t come waltzing in bothering her. And I can only do that if I’ve moved on too.” The sad smile that forms on Penelope’s face makes Hope’s heart ache. She leans her head on the girl’s shoulder as she continues to listen.

“So I didn’t go back, I willed myself to move on. And I thought I already did. Until I saw her brown Bambi eyes and teddy bear smile, but it was too late to back down. Now I’m here.”

Hope reaches out her hand and squeezes Penelope’s. The girl squeezes back.

_God, if I was watching us right now, we’d look so soft,_ Penelope thought. But to be honest, she couldn't care less at the moment. 

“But I don’t regret it though, cause I guess I have you anyway.”

Hope sits up from Penelope’s shoulder and laughs.

“Okay, too soft?” Penelope says in between laughs.

“ _Definitely_ too soft.”

  


* * *

  


Josie has been thinking about what Hope told her since they left the library.

She really shouldn’t be thinking about Penelope this much anymore. It didn’t matter that Penelope still care about her. Or if she still cared about Penelope too – not that she’d ever admit that to anybody. Penelope broke up with her for unclear reasons three years ago and the proceeded to move to another damn continent away from her. But of course not before telling her that _one day, she will understand why Penelope did everything that she did_ and that _Penelope loves her with all of her obnoxious, selfish, evil heart_ – all the while confusing Josie because it’s been three years and she still doesn’t know Penelope’s reasons and if Penelope really loves, _correction: loved_ , her why did she leave?

Josie has been sulking at the bottom of the staircase, distracted by her thoughts so much that she doesn’t notice someone walking up to her.

“You must be thinking of something confusing with that concerned scruchy face.” She finally looks up to meet brown eyes, the owner approaching her with that a smirk on his face.

_Does that smirk run on their blood?_

“Confusing would be an understatement.” Josie sighs loudly, and the next thing she knows, Jed is sitting beside her on the staircase.

“Talk to me, Saltzman.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Josie knew she needed to talk to someone about what she’s thinking of before she gets completely wrapped up in her thoughts, but she wasn’t sure if her ex’s cousin would be the best to spill them onto.

“If it’s got you breaking curfew and sulking in your pajamas by the stairs, it’s probably not okay.”

Jed shrugs and looks at Josie expectantly.

Josie sighs again. _Does that you-know-I’m right look run in their blood too?_

Sh surely can’t talk to Lizzie about this. Hope’s out of the list too. Amd she didn’t wanna bother MG who is busy with his campaign for the honor council. _Fuck it._ What could go wrong if she talks to Jed?

“Hope told me Penelope still cares about me.”

And the Jed laughs. Not the small laugh that you do when you’re amused but the one when someone cracks a really funny joke. Josie looks at her questioningly.

“Sorry, it’s just that everybody knows that, Josie. Except you, as it turns out, and probably your selfish sister too. No offense, she just hates my cousin too much.”

“None taken.”

“Anyway, I may be breaking some cousin code with telling you all these, but it’s kinda obvious that Penelope cares about you with her heart eyes and everything.”

Josie feels her face heat up. She lowers her head down to hide her blush that she was sure has shown up now.

“If she did, why’d she left me then?”

Josie looks up at Jed and the boy’s mood changes to a more concerned one.

Fuck, he thinks, this is the Bambi eyes that compels you to be honest that Penelope talks about.

“Look, Josie. I know Penelope, and I know you do too.”

Josie wanted to agree, but three years of confusion has led her to believe that maybe she doesn’t actually know who Penelope really is.

Jed continues. “That being said, we both know she has good reasons for leaving, and for everything that she did, for that matter.”

“Fuck that.” Josie groans before putting her face on her palms. “Everyone keeps telling me that but nobody ever tell me her reasons. I deserve to know, right?”

Jed could only nod. He knew that Josie had the right to know what his cousin’s reasons were, and he wishes he could help with the situation. It’s not like he never tried to convince Penelope to tell Josie everything, but the girl was stubborn.

“I just wanna know the reason.” Josie sighs loudly again. “You’re her cousin, if you think I deserve to know, why don’t you get her to tell me?”

Josie knows that she shouldn’t ask Jed for this, it’s not like being her cousin immediately meant that Penelope would listen to her. The girl has always been the type to do what she believed in, no matter who tries to argue with her. But she just needed to know that there was at least one person other than her who tried to get Penelope to be honest with her.

“Believe me, I tried, Penelope’s just-”

“Penelope.” They said in unison and somehow they both understood what it meant. _Maybe talking to Jed isn't too bad after all,_ Josie thinks to herself. They hear footsteps coming near them, and the two try to keep their voices lower.

“Why don’t you get her to tell her yourself?” Jed says after a while.

“I will, maybe soon.” And Josie meant it. She was tired if asking herself questions that only Penelope could answer. She even feels a tinge of bravery with what she’s learned from Hope and Jed today, maybe she’ll tell Penelope tonight.

Then Jed clears his throat, looking past Josie’s shoulder.

“How about now?”

  


* * *

  


It was way past curfew when Hope and Penelope arrive back at the school, which meant that all the CCTV cameras were now on in the campus and it was way harder to sneak in without getting caught.

They walk across the front yard slowly, careful not to get out of any of the CCTV’s small blind spots or more too much as to trigger any cameras to be pointed exactly their way.

Penelope was good at this, she’s done this many times, sometimes even with Josie back when they were together.

She brushes the thoughts off as she walks slowly past a tree.

She expected Hope to be good at it too — considering her almighty tribridness and experience in fighting, she would’ve thought the girl would be better at hiding.

But boy was she wrong.

As they walked past a tree, Hope gets her foot caught in a branch that has fallen on the ground, stumbling and falling to the ground, taking Penelope down with her.

Penelope’s green eyes looked at her in panic and annoyance.

“Shit, mutt, I though you’d be good at hiding since you hide from monsters all the time.”

“I kill them, not play hide and seek with them, muggle.”

They try to keep quiet, not noticing how awkward their position was with Hope laying on top of Penelope.

“Shit.” They mutter in unison when one of the cameras start to turn towards them.

The next thing Penelope knows, Hope is grabbing her hand and they were running across the front yard, trying to get away from the array of cameras surely being triggered by their movements.

“It’s your fault if we get caught.” Penelope mutters.

“Not the time.” Hope warns.

They ran so fast that in a matter of seconds, they were inside the school building already. Hearts thumping and breaths mended together as they laughed at what they had just done.

“We’re like the Avengers now, trying to run away from authorities.” Hope says in between laughs.

“We snuck out, not saved lives, dork.” Penelope was laughing hard too, trying to catch her breath as they walk back to their room.

“Fine, we’re _outlaws_ then.”

“Better than Avengers, I guess.” Penelope shrugs and receives a playful punch from Hope.

The two laugh and talk about their night like they hadn’t just both experienced it.

But their conversation was cut short by someone clearing their throat.

The outlaws turn their head to see Jed and Josie sitting on the bottom of the staircase.

“How about now?” Jed asks Josie.

Josie meets Jed’s eyes but quickly turns her gaze back to Hope and Penelope’s intertwined fingers. The two quickly untangle them.

And suddenly all the bravery Josie had earlier had dissipated and she doesn't think she can talk to or even look at Penelope right now. 

She turns to Jed again before saying, “Maybe next time. Goodnight, Jed.”

The brunette gets up to leave.

“Goodnight, Hope.” She offers her friend a small smile. “Penelope.” She doesn’t even look at Penelope before turning back, afraid that if she looks at those _stupid_ green eyes that are surely looking through her soul, she might break down.

Penelope swears she can feel her heart getting crushed then. 

_She tells me she loves me, leaves, comes back, and holds my best friend’s hand?_ Josie thought, her head more clouded with confusion, and pain, and jealousy than before.

On the other hand, Hope and Penelope are left with Jed who filled them in with everything, their hearts now thumping for a reason that is not the excitement from tonight.

“You should tell her soon, P.” Jed squeezes Penelope’s arm.

“Jed’s right.”

Penelope’s shoulders fell because the girl she loves has just walked away, her heart broken yet again because of her, and here were two of the most important people in her life telling her to do what was right.


	5. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Penelope attend a party.
> 
> But parties in the Salvatore School isn't complete without a little fun and drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posie and Henelope - which is the superior ship?
> 
> Comment which one you'd wanna see more of hehe

Penelope has been spending her time out with her posse for the past few days. “I haven’t spent much time with them lately,” she told Hope. Though they both know that she was only doing this to avoid thinking about telling Josie the truth and to avoid a confrontation about the same thing with Hope too. She knew that the tribrid would try to convince her to “do the right thing” and she was afraid that she might do so.

 

Hope let this slide; she wasn’t going to push Penelope into talking about it if she wasn’t ready yet. Besides, the free time meant more time for her to train and read. She hasn’t done this lately since she was hanging out with Penelope most of the time, not that she’s complaining.

 

So when Hope enters their room, she didn’t expect Penelope to be lying on her stomach on her bed reading one of her books about feminism.

 

“You’re late to the party,” Hope tells her as she sits down on her own bed, letting the exhaustion of training with Alaric drain from her. The school has just won a football game against Mystic Falls High, one of the two wins that they’re allowed to have every season, so the students decided to throw a party.

 

“I’m not in the mood.” Penelope doesn’t even look up at her roommate, she proceeds to flip another page of her book.

 

Hope studies her for a second. _Okay, I’ve given her enough time. She’s just being a coward now._ She can’t keep avoiding talking about the whole situation with her.

 

“So when are you planning to tell Josie?”

 

“Let’s not talk about that right now.”

 

Hope closes her eyes and exhales, trying to keep herself from shaking Penelope to get her to see that she’s gonna have to tell Josie the truth soon. The whole ordeal is causing too much of a mess already.

 

She wanted to tell Penelope that the longer she keeps this secret, the more it will strain her chances with Josie. And Hope didn’t want that for her, she knew how much Penelope loved Josie and vice versa.

 

She knew the girl didn’t wanna talk about it, but being stuck in this room with the tension of all that is getting too annoying for her to handle so she stands up, picks up Penelope’s leather jacket perched on her desk chair, and tosses it to her.

 

“What are you doing?” The girl’s green eyes glare at her.

 

“If we’re not gonnaa talk about that, then we’re going to the party. At least there we can find another topic to talk about.”

 

Penelope looks at her like she has just turned into an unknown monster.

 

“When did you start doing parties?”

 

“Since I got annoyed at your stupid ass who doesn’t wanna talk about what should be talked about and doesn’t do what’s supposed to be done”

 

Penelope rolls her eyes. Hope was right, though she was acting like such a diva right now too. Being distracted by the party would be better than them being stuck in their room together and trying to ignore the elephant in the room.

 

The other students were quick to notice the two when they arrive at the party. Heads quickly turned to Penelope and Hope, students staring at them in awe – the head witch in charge and the tribrid who always saves the day, two powerful and beautiful girls with bright light eyes – they were the perfect pair.

 

Since they started hanging out, thanks to Ava’s plan, they have been the talk of the school, especially since some students saw them sneaking in and out of school a few nights ago. The other students wanted to be friends with them, date them, _be them._

 

This, however, only upset Lizzie Saltzman more, especially because her new vampire boyfriend seems to be more interested in the two now than being in another makeout session with her.

 

She shoots the two a glare, meeting ocean blue eyes after green ones. The two didn’t pay her any attention though, going straight to the drinks table as soon as they arrived.

 

“Drink up, mutt.” Hope accepts the red cup full of whatever alcohol Kaleb and the other vamps have managed to sneak into school that Penelope hands her.

 

“Haven’t seen you in a while.” The tribrid looks past Penelope’s shoulders and sees the girl who has been going after Penelope for weeks now.

 

_Sofia._

 

_She still hasn’t given up, huh?_

 

“Well, here I am.” Penelope looks at her with fake enthusiasm that the girl doesn’t catch.

 

Hope isn’t fooled though. She raises an eyebrow at Penelope, which the girl only replies to with a head tilt. _What?_

 

“Drink?” Penelope quickly offers Sofia a sip of her drink. That, paired with her smirk and eyebrow raise, was enough to hook the girl in for the rest of the night.

 

Soon, Hope was left by the tables alone. Okay, maybe she didn’t think this through. _Of course,_ Penelope would find another student to entertain her and Hope would be left alone. Not that Hope can give her the attention Sofia was giving her now, anyway.

 

“I see your date left you alone.” She feels someone stand beside her. She looks up to see Raf smiling down on her.

 

“Oh hey, Raf. And no, Penelope’s not my date.” She chuckles before looking back to where Penelope was, laughing with Sofia, her hands snaking under the girl’s shirt as she wrapped her arm around the girl's waist. 

 

Raf nods at her answer. “Right. I haven’t talked to you in a while.” Raf continues. “Since, you know…”

 

“Since Landon left, yep, I know that.” She nods. She really didn’t want to talk about Landon right now. They broke up a few months after they successfully made everyone remember her after she jumped into Malivore. It had been a mutual and friendly breakup and she’s moved on, but it doesn’t mean she wanted to talk to his brother about it though. Besides, the werewolf treated her rather coldly after the breakup.

 

“I see you’ve been busy. I heard Penelope’s sister made you hang out with her.” Hope hated how Rafael made it seem like her hanging out with Penelope was only out of obligation.

 

“She’s actually fun to be with.”

 

Rafael seems surprised by this, but then again, he never really seemed to like Penelope.

 

He clears his throat, trying to change the topic, since he blew the last one catastrophically.

 

“Anyway, maybe _we_ can hang out when you’re free?”

 

“For what?”

 

“Coffee?”

 

Hope turns her head so fast she thinks she might’ve gotten a whiplash.

 

“What?”

 

“Coffee. Like a coffee date?”

 

Hope raises her eyebrows in question. _Is he_ seriously _asking me out right now?_

 

“What?”

 

“I asked Landon about it and he said he was cool about-“ Rafael stops when Hope raises her hand to stop her.

 

“Look, Raf. I’m not interested.”

 

“C’mon, Hope. It’s not like my feelings are new, why don’t you-“ _He_ really _has to stop._

 

“Stop right there, dude.” Hope can’t help but laugh at the awkward situation she is in right now. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t interested before and I’m not interested now. It’s not just about Landon, which, by the way, is a big factor because I’m not interested in dating my ex’s brother, but also about how you just literally insulted one of my best friends.”

 

 _Best friend._ The words felt natural as Hope says it referring to Penelope.

 

“Are you kidding? Penelope?” Rafael looked at Hope in disbelief, laughing at her like she just made a joke.

 

“Yes?” A low voice speaks up from behind Hope and the next thing she knows, Penelope is beside her, green eyes staring down the werewolf like she isn’t like half a foot shorter than him.

 

Rafael shakes his head and scoffs.

 

“I’ll see you later, Hope.”

 

“Yeah, no you won’t.” Penelope deadpans before grabbing Hope’s hand and pulling her away from the werewolf.

 

* * *

 

Josie has noticed Penelope avoiding her since that night that she snuck out with Hope. She’s been doing her fair share of avoiding too. They’ve been doing a lot of that lately, avoiding each other, and Josie _hates_ it.

 

Josie feels like she should be thankful for this, she’s been wishing for Penelope to just stay away, but instead she feels sad.

 

She doesn’t know what she wants anymore. She didn’t want Penelope to get close to her because every time they do, they end up hurting each other or even someone else – and Josie doesn’t want that. She can say that Penelope hurt her, but she didn’t want to see Penelope hurt as much as she didn’t want to get hurt too.

 

But Josie didn’t want to avoid Penelope too. Three years and the raven-haired witch still had so much control over her feelings. She craved Penelope’s attention, her softness, and her soft smile.

 

 _This isn’t love_ , she convinces herself, because how can you love someone you don’t know? Three years of secrets and unspoken words have left them with only a few pieces of the puzzle that is each other.

 

Now Josie watches as Penelope stares down the werewolf that stood in front of her, her head held high and ready to fight for her friend.

 

And Josie is _so_ scared – because in the few months that Penelope has been back, she’s beginning to get to know the girl more and she’s being pulled back into everything she used to feel for her… _but no, it isn’t love, it can’t be._ She can’t let Penelope hurt her again.

 

She watched as Penelope left her date for her friend.

 

She watched as Penelope aced every class they took.

 

She watched as Penelope laughed heartily with Hope a few nights ago.

 

She watched as Penelope gave a lollipop to a little boy who was crying yesterday because he fell down.

 

She watched as Penelope rushed to MG after the game to congratulate him because he had just scored the winning shot.

 

She watched as Penelope burned Rafael.

 

She watched as Penelope takes Hope’s hand leads her away to sit by the bonfire.

 

She watched Penelope be the Penelope she knew and loved, and even better, and she can’t help but fall for her all over again.

 

But she can’t.

 

So she watches Penelope from afar.

 

* * *

 

“I could’ve handled that.” Hope says as her and Penelope watch the fire crackle in front of them. “But thank you.”

 

“Had to prevent a dog fight.” Penelope jokes before raising her cup to take a sip.  _Of course you could've handled that, but I wasn't gonna let you handle it alone_ , she wanted to say, but opted not to. Hope nudges her and her drink spills. “Hey!”

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Hope says in between laughs.

 

“I hate you sometimes!” Penelope was laughing her head off too.

 

“I’ll get us more drinks.” Hope says when she finally calms down, standing up and getting her friends cup.

 

It has only been a few seconds since Hope left when Penelope feels someone taking a seat beside her.

 

“That was fast, did you- oh.” She expects to meet blue eyes, but instead meets brown ones.

 

A few moments of silence lie between her and her ex and Penelope feels like her heart is going to jump out of her chest anytime soon.

 

“I thought you were avoiding me.” Penelope says in a weak voice.

 

“I was. I mean, I am.” Josie sighs. “Look, I don’t wanna do this anymore.”

 

Penelope looks up at her, confusion evident in her face.

 

“Do what?”

 

“This whole avoiding each other thing. I _hate_ it.” Josie says, still not looking up to see her ex.

 

Penelope’s heart is touched by a flicker of hope then, maybe it was _her_ that Josie hated.

 

“I hate it too. So…” she drags her words then, not really knowing what to say. “Friends, then?” And _oh my god_ , Penelope thinks. She always thought it would be better to have Josie in her life than not at all, whether it be through Josie hating her or them just being friends, but _it hurts._ Asking Josie to just be friends with her hurts because she didn’t want them to just be friends, she wanted Josie the way you should be with the love of your life. But she put herself in this situation, she had to settle for this.

 

“Friends.” It was only then that Josie finally looks up to meet her eyes.

 

Josie feels her heart soar.

 

The reflection of the fire dances in Penelope’s green eyes, making them look more beautiful than Josie remembered. Penelope looks at her with that soft look that was reserved for only her when they were still together, and she feels warmth cover her heart. She hasn’t been this close to her since the day Penelope felt for Belgium. The memory brings her back to reality. _Friends_ , _just friends._

 

“Josie, what the fuck?” A voice screeches to break the moment between them. _It was only becoming good, why is this happening?_ This same thought runs in both their thoughts.

 

They turn around to see who has just ruined their moment.

 

It was the girl Josie was dating.

 

“Sarah.” Josie stands up to calm the girl down.

 

“Why are you with your _evil_ ex?” A pang hits Penelope’s heart. _Does everyone think about me like this? As Josie’s_ evil _ex?_ “You really have to learn your place, Park!”

 

Another bullet to Penelope’s heart.

“Hey! Don’t yell at her!” Hope appears with a red cup on each hand. Sarah glares at Hope. “Leave her alone.” Hope pauses after every word, emphasizing her statement.

 

Sarah scoffs while Josie only stands there, helplessly watching all the drama unfold. Lizzie was there now too, looking amused and standing along a crowd that was watching the fight go down.

 

“I’m not stealing your girl from you.” The calmness in Penelope’s voice masks the bitterness that settles in her mouth as she utters the words. _Your girl. Right, not mine_.

 

“Don’t act all innocent, Penelope. We all know you want Josie back.” The girl snickers. She walks towards Josie and wraps an arm around her waist.

 

Penelope’s meets Josie’s eyes, trying to elicit any action from the girl to at least tell her girlfriend to stop. _Nothing. Of course there was nothing._

 

Penelope’s takes her eyes away from Josie’s, shaking her head as she turns to leave.

 

“This is stupid, I’m gonna-“

 

The sound of skin hitting skin silences the crowd. A sharp pain rises on Penelope’s left cheek from where Sarah has just slapped her.

 

Penelope wanted to fight back, but hurting Josie’s girlfriend might hurt her too. 

 

And Hope was there anyway.

 

“I said leave her alone!” Hope screams at the girl in front of her, eyes full of anger. It was like a switch was flipped inside her as soon as Sarah's hand collided with Penelope's face, and the next thing everybody sees is Sarah hitting the ground after the tribrid sent her flying onto a tree behind her. 

 

Penelope looks at Hope, the two nod in understanding as the raven-haired girl lets out a deep sigh, stopping herself from hurting anyone further, and leaves.

 

Josie wanted to reach out to her, but she walked away so fast without sparing even a glance at her.

 

“If you ever touch Penelope again, I will end you.” Pure rage dripped from Hope’s words she stares down the girl lying on the floor. Sarah was looking at her with fear evident in her eyes, the cocky girl from earlier all gone now as she realizes that she has just pissed off _the_ tribrid. 

 

Sarah stands up and starts sprinting away from the crowd and the party.

 

Hope runs a hand through her hair, clearly annoyed by the whole ordeal. She glares at everyone, a clear warning for them to turn their attention away from them, and they do. Hope then deadpans at Josie.

 

“Your move, Jo.” Hope had a blank expression on her face, but the tone of her voice suggests that she was fuming, her anger now directed at her own best friend. _Do something, Jo,_ she thinks, _prove that you can be even a little selfless for Penelope._

But she doesn’t do anything.

 

Josie opens her mouth to say something but closes it again.

 

The siphoner can only stand there, not knowing what to do or say as Hope looks at her with so much disappointment in her eyes.

 

* * *

 

Penelope was back to reading her book when Hope returns to their room.

 

The tribrid sits on her bed, facing Penelope. She doesn’t say anything; she knew that the girl would speak when she is ready.

 

And she does as soon as she notices Hope watching her.

 

She was thankful that Hope didn’t want to poke instantly, to push the conversation as soon as she arrived.

 

“I could’ve handled that.” Her tone mimics Hope’s earlier when they were sat by the bonfire. She looks up to meet Hope’s eyes. “But thank you.”

 

“Had to prevent a dog fight.” Hope shrugs and mimics her previous tone too, and then the two just burst out laughing.

 

“It really doesn’t work with that context.” Penelope laughs.

 

She feels the weight of tonight and the fight slowly lifting from her shoulders as Hope and her laughed and reminisced how ridiculous Sarah looked like on the ground earlier.

 

The two seem to be doing a lot of that lately – taking each other’s weights off their shoulders.

 

* * *

 

Josie leaves to find Sarah as soon as Hope left. She confronted the girl and ended things with her.

 

It wasn’t as if it was a hard decision for her anyway, Sarah was nice, but Josie didn’t like her _that_ much in a romantic way.

 

And she _slapped_ Penelope, she hurt her, so _no_ , it wasn’t a hard decision for Josie.

 

The next thing she knows, her feet was leading her to the room Hope and Penelope shared.

 

 _Your move, Jo_ , Hope’s words echo through her mind. She knew that Hope wanted what’s best for her and Penelope, and right now it was her move.

 

She isn’t quite sure what that meant, but the only move she knows she can do right now is to apologize.

 

She hears laughter coming from the room as she gets closer.

 

Her heart flutters at the sound of Penelope’s laugh.

 

She can almost imagine Penelope’s smile, her eyes always looked much brighter when she’s smiling or laughing, and Josie can’t help but smile again.

 

But then she realizes that for the past few years, she’s only seen that smile from afar, and suddenly she’s craving too just see it closer.

 

She brings her fists to the door and knocks softly three times.

 

“Oh my god, I think Dr. Saltzman found out about tonight.” She hears Hope laugh inside, and footsteps coming to open the door.

 

She expects Hope to open the door, but meets beautiful green eyes when the door opens.

 

“Josie.” Penelope breathes out.

 

“Hi. I- uhm can I talk to you for a sec?”

 

She sees Hope perched on her bed at smiling at her like she’s happy that Josie was doing something now.

 

“I don’t know, is your girlfriend with you to slap me again?” _So Penelope’s nonchalance is back_.

 

“I broke up with her.” She looks for any reaction from Penelope. _No, of course she doesn’t care, and you shouldn’t care that she doesn’t either_ , Josie reminds herself. “So, can we talk?”

 

Penelope thinks about it for a few seconds before nodding and walking out to the hallway with Josie, closing the door behind her.

 

“I’m sorry for what happened at the party. I didn’t know Sarah could be like that.”

 

The pain that was slowly subsiding seem to burn Penelope’s left cheek yet again.

 

“You don’t have to apologize for her, Josie.”

 

“Yeah, but I’m also sorry for not stopping her.”

 

 _You should be_ , that would have been Penelope’s answer if this was any other person. But this was Josie, and her mind can only think of excuses for why it wasn’t her fault.

 

“I don’t think you could have, but it’s okay, Hope was there.”

 

 _Right, Hope._ Josie takes a mental note to thank Hope for that later. Yet she can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy because she couldn’t be the one to save Penelope, it was Hope. She wanted to, she really did, but at the time she was just frozen there. She had to pick a side and she picked the girl she was dating.

 

“Right, yeah. And what I said earlier, I really do want to be friends with her.”

 

Another bullet to Penelope’s heart. _Friends._ She forces a smile. It’s either this or not have Josie in her life at all.

 

“Please?” Josie looks at her with _those damn Bambi eyes_ and _of course_ Penelope couldn’t resist. She offers Josie the sincerest smile she could and holds her hand out for a handshake.

 

“Friends.”

 

* * *

 

Josie was thankful that she is yet to be confronted by Lizzie for everything that happened last night, but the nerves were starting to creep up on her as she anticipates her sister lecturing her yet again about how she should stop associating herself with Penelope.

 

She has been relaxing in the bedroom she shares with Lizzie when her sister comes.

 

Josie is surprised because her sister was smiling ear-to-ear.

 

“I’m so excited for the senior trip this year!” Lizzie exclaims as she approaches her wardrobe. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”

 

 _Right, the senior trip._ Josie has completely forgotten about it, she was kind of preoccupied by avoiding Penelope and Hope. It’s tomorrow and she still hasn’t packed anything.

 

The school has a tradition of sending the seniors to a trip annually. They are usually sent to cities where many supernaturals are or where there is a rich supernatural history. It’s a four-day trip, with the first and fourth days being free days for the students to spend on their own terms (without using magic, of course). This year's senior trip is set in New Orleans.

 

The twins have been waiting for this trip their whole lives. They have lived in the school since they were kids and most of the trips they took were with family only, so going out with people their age excited them.

 

“Right, have you packed already?” Josie asks, trying to steer the conversation away from last night.

 

“I started last night while you were out. But let’s do it together?” Lizzie smiles at her widely. The blonde seems to notice her twin being a little tense. “You’re thinking about last night.”

 

“I-“

 

“I’m not gonna bother you about it if you don't wanna talk about it. Sarah was a bitch for what she did, and I trust your decisions regarding that wannabe head witch in charge.”

 

Josie is taken aback. _This is new_ , but she wasn’t complaining. Maybe this is another one of Lizzie’s character developments, she’s been having a lot of those since they found out about the Merge. She started listening to Josie’s opinions more, using less nicknames for people, even not complaining when Hope would visit their room.

 

“Thank you, Liz.” Josie opens her arms and walks towards Lizzie to hug her.

 

“Anything, Jo.” They pull away and Lizzie is smiling wide again. “Now let’s start packing.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m not going.” Hope argues for the hundredth time while Penelope convinces her.

 

That is if you consider throwing popcorn at someone and continuously saying _go with me._

 

“You’re so stubborn.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You know what? Fine.” Penelope says and Hope thinks the girl has finally given up.

 

But then she sees Penelope stand up and walks to her closet. The raven-haired with swings her cabinet open and pulls out a duffel bag.

 

“What the hell are you doing?”

 

“Packing.”

 

“My stuff?” She stands up to stop her roommate.

 

“Yes, because _you’re_ not gonna do it.” Penelope grabs some of Hope’s t-shirts and puts it in the bag.

 

“You can’t _coerce_ me into coming to this trip!” Hope puts a shirt back. She was so exasperated now, she can pull her hair out.

 

“You’re so dramatic. Why do you even want me on this trip? I’m technically not even a senior anymore.” Penelope puts more t-shirts and some pants as she replies.

 

“Because you’re a lonely tribrid who needs some fun. What kind kf roommate would I be if I just leave you sulking here? And you’ve already skipped one senior trip so you’re gonna have to come now, it’s tradition.” Penelope shrugs at Hope, making the tribrid roll her eyes.

 

“Fuck tradition.” She grabs more clothes from the bag and puts it back in her closet.

 

“Hope, can you just go?!” The tribrid is shocked by how stern and serious Penelope sounds now. “I’m sorry, I just can you please just go with me? I’m asking nicely now.”

 

Penelope gives her a pleading look, and Hope sees how the girl really wanted her to come.

 

“Tell me why first.”

 

She was only doing this if Penelope was honest to her and herself.

 

“I told you, you-“

 

The tribrid puts a hand up to stop the witch.

 

“This is not about me. Tell me, P.”

 

Penelope bites her lip, unsure of what she should say, but knowing fully well that Hope already knows what it is.

 

“I don’t wanna be on this trip and deal with the Saltzman twins alone, okay? I’m gonna have to see _her_ and I-“ _need you to be there._

 

Hope just nods, satisfied that Penelope has finally admitted it. She knew what the last word was supposed to be. “Okay.”

 

The two start packing, throwing banters and jokes around, a certain comfort settling between them.

 

Hope isn’t even bothered that she had to be social at the trip – Penelope was gonna be there anyway.

 

She feels uncomfortable, no one has balanced her out like this before, not since her family and Landon.

 

Penelope knew when to pull Hope out of her comfort zone and when to respect her being there, sometimes even joining her there if she agrees.

 

Penelope felt uncomfortable, she never needed someone to _just be there_ for her before aside from Josie.

 

But she also felt comfortable at the same time, because…it just was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be getting carried away with the Henelope ngl but Posie comeback soon?
> 
> What ship are you loving and what more do you want to see?


	6. You're Worth It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Penelope will explore New Orleans with someone special.
> 
> Josie hears something she isn't supposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone special will make an appearance in this Chapter!
> 
> Kinda busy because of school so I didn't get to proofread this but oh, well!

Being friends with Penelope Park has brought unexpected turns to Hope’s life – from getting involved to messy ex-girlfriend drama to joining a senior trip.

 

She hated the idea of the latter more.

 

Penelope has convinced her yesterday that it was going to be fun, she had nothing to worry about, but sitting in the hotel lobby listening to Alaric drone on about their itinerary, Hope can’t help but curse at Penelope and at herself for bringing her here.

 

“This is boring.” Hope huffs to Penelope who is currently talking to another witch friends of hers. The girl hears her and whispers back.

 

“ _That_ is boring.” Penelope tells her, referring to Alaric’s “super plan” (that’s what he calls it, anyway). “But _I_ am not, and I have some tricks up my sleeve, mutt.”

 

“If I die of boredom here, I’ll come back to haunt your muggle ass.”

 

“Oh stop being so over dramatic.” Penelope nudges her before going back to talking to her friends.

 

The two are roomed together, of course, and when they were finally allowed to go up to their rooms, Penelope immediately put her luggage beside the bed that was farther from the windows.

 

Penelope knows that Hope has a thing for scenic views. She always notices the tribrid looking out their dorm room windows and onto the woods when she’s stressed or when and before she does art. It seemed to inspire the girl and calm her down, so it was no brainer for Penelope to let Hope have the better view, she dragged her here anyway.

 

“You’re not even gonna ask me what bed I want?” Hope asks bluntly.

 

“I don’t wanna wake up blinded by the sun in my eyes,” Penelope reasons so that the girl would stop asking questions, and she doesn’t.

 

“I’m not complaining.” Hope shrugs and puts her luggage beside the bed, happy to be on the bed with a view.

 

After they unpacked, Penelope started to get ready to shower, saying that the plane ride has surely made her look exhausted, though anyone who can see her would argue with that ( _except Lizzie, probably_ ).

 

“That’s such a Penelope Park thing,” Hope commented when Penelope said this.

 

This thought makes Hope wonder, “Don’t you think it’s a bit unpractical of Alaric to fly us out here instead of just taking the bus? The bus would be cheaper, right? And with most students not paying tuition, we should learn to save. And that plane was a private one.”

 

Hope thinks about the plane they were on just a little more than an hour ago. It was a relatively smaller plane, but it was a private one, and the seats were much fancier than the ones she has seen on other planes she’s been on. It even smelled like one of the expensive perfumes that her Aunt Rebekah has in her room.

 

Penelope lets out a soft laughter. The question was just so…Hope – it was spontaneous, interesting, and surprisingly made sense.

 

“That’s true.” She says before picking up clothes to change into. “But it’s not like the school had to pay for it.”

 

Hope squints her eyes in confusion but decides to let it go.

 

 “By the way, we’re going out tonight,” Penelope as she walks to the restroom.

 

“Oh okay, stay safe.” Hope chirps, relaxing on her bed. Penelope stops.

 

“What? No, dumbass, I meant ‘ _you and I’_ we.” Hope was taken aback. She would’ve thought that Penelope would want to spend this night with her circle of friends (her _followers_ , if you put it more bluntly).

 

“Don’t you have plans with your posse?”

 

“I’ll have time with them on other days.” Penelope shrugs casually. “I wanna explore New Orleans with a local.”

 

And then she’s inside the restroom, leaving Hope smiling like an idiot on her bed.

 

* * *

 

Hope wasn’t quite sure where to bring Penelope on this exploration of New Orleans, so she decides to start with a food tour.

 

She brings Penelope to various restaurants to get Po-boys, a 20-inch sandwich made of French bread piled with meat, lettuce, and the restaurant’s secret dressing that was so big they had to share it.

 

Then they munched on soft-shell crabs that Penelope requested Hope should give her as a gift on her birthday.

 

But after eating their way through jambalaya, beignets, and a huge muffalettas, Hope knew she couldn’t distract Penelope with food anymore.

 

“Are we just gonna eat, Mikaelson? Bring me to _your_ places. I wanna know _you_.” Hope convinces herself that the blush that comes on her face is due to the cold that was starting to settle with the night.

 

“I didn’t really go out much when I was here, my childhood was, well…”

 

Hope voice fades, not really knowing how to explain how she spent most of her childhood in New Orleans trying to get the hollow out of her.

 

But she didn’t need to, because Penelope nods in understanding about what she meant. News travels fast in the supernatural world, especially with Penelope’s connections, so she knew what Hope meant. She wouldn’t put Hope into the struggle of explaining it to her.

 

“But wait, I’ll call someone.”

 

* * *

 

About an hour after Hope called _someone_ to help tour them, Penelope was getting quite impatient. She wanted to explore and waiting on a bench by a park wasn’t her idea of exploration.

 

“Mikaelson, where the hell is your friend?”

 

“Patience is a virtue, Park.”

 

“Being Josie’s best friend, I think you would’ve known that I don’t have a lot of virtues.”

 

Hope chuckles at the cranky Penelope.

 

“Oh yeah, I know that. Oh, she's here!” Hope says, beaming.

 

Penelope follows Hope’s gaze and freezes in awe as she sees a woman with beautiful, long, straight, blonde hair walking towards them.

 

“Hope. I missed you.” The woman smiles brightly, a thick British accent obvious in the short phrase.

 

“Aunt Rebekah.” Hope wraps her arms around her aunt, lingering a little longer than normal. “I missed you too.”

 

After the two catch up a little about why Hope was in New Orleans, the tribrid turns to Penelope.

 

Hope didn't really plan on telling her aunts about her being in NOLA, knowing that they'd try to get her to just stay since she's already there anyway. 

 

“By the way, this is my friend, Penelope Park. Penelope, my Aunt Rebekah.”

 

Penelope tries hard not to look so awestruck by the fact the was now hanging out with an Original Vampire.

 

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Mikaelson.”

 

Rebekah smiles at her with amusement in her eyes.

 

“I see you’re polite.” She chuckles. “But call me, Rebekah. And nice to meet you too.” She then turns to Hope. “Now that you’re finally of legal age, I can take you to the Carousel.” She beams before beckoning the two to follow her.

 

“Carousel?” Penelope whispers to Hope while walking. She expected Rebekah Mikaelson to be more fun than a freaking _carousel_ , a damn kiddie ride. And _legal age_? New Orleans has a legal age for riding carousels.

 

Hope laughs at her, which confuses her more.

 

“Just wait and see.”

 

After a few minutes in the taxi ride, the car finally pulls up in front of a hotel. It was a beautiful white building that reminded Penelope of some old architectures in Paris. A beautiful cursive sign welcomed them as they step out of the car.

 

_Hotel Monteleone._

 

Rebekah walks inside the hotel and the two girls follow.

 

She continues to walk until they reached beautiful double doors with a sign on the door that says ‘Carousel.’

 

Penelope looks over to Hope who looks so excited. _Why is she so excited about an indoor carousel?_ Penelope thought.

 

When Rebekah pulls the doors open, she realizes why.

 

Warm lights flooded the room, and in the center was circus-clad merry-go-round style table that slowly spun.

 

“Welcome to The Carousel,” Rebekah says before walking towards the center, smiling proudly at herself for impressing the two teenagers.

 

Penelope was impressed, she has never seen anything like it, not even with her travelling to dozens of foreign countries.

 

Hope was beaming with excitement. She’s heard of her aunts and uncles talk about the place since she was young. They would go here to drink out sometimes, and the way they described it has captured little Hope’s heart since then. She looks around, matching images with descriptions that she’s been told, and imagining her aunts, uncles, and even parents hanging around.

 

“Well, let’s get started.” Rebekah says as she takes a seat in one of the few in the center. Hope sits beside her and Penelope beside Hope.

 

“How are you finding New Orleans, Penelope?” Rebekah asks after ordering some drinks for the two girls.

 

“It’s beautiful. And it has great food too, Hope’s just shown me some of her top food picks.”

 

“That’s great. New Orleans is a great place.” She says.

 

“It’s home.” Hope chirps. New Orleans is home for them, it hasn’t always been, but thousands of years in this earth was bound to make someone feel like their home isn’t always in one place. But since almost their whole family stays in NOLA now, it was home.

 

“It is.” Rebekah nods before handing shots to the girls. “Which is why you should move back here.”

 

Penelope sees how Hope’s expression changes at this. The tribrid has mentioned once that NOLA was home, but sometimes the memories are too much for her to stay.

 

“Cheers.” Hope exclaims to divert from the topic and raises her glass. Rebekah and Penelope follow suit, clinking their glasses with a ‘to New Orleans.’

 

Hope drowns the shot in a second before hopping off of her chair.

 

“I’m just gonna go to the restroom.” And then she was off, leaving Rebekah and Penelope.

 

“I see you’re good friends with my niece.” She studies Penelope, and the confident witch suddenly feels like she’s being scrutinized from hear to toe.

 

“I guess I am.” Penelope offers a small smile before sipping from the cocktail that they ordered.

 

“She’s not really one to let people in, showing her favorite places, letting people meet her family on purpose.” Penelope doesn’t really know where Rebekah is getting at. She already knows all of that about Hope, and even though she would not admit it to anybody else, she feels honored that Hope thinks she’s worthy to be her friend.

 

“All I’m saying is, you better be good to her. She’s been through a lot” 

 

“I know that, and don’t worry, I’m nice.” Penelope says.

 

Rebekah was impressed by how Penelope didn’t seem intimidated by this. She was an Original, she can hurt her if she hurts Hope. Yet Penelope talks like she would _never_ do anything to hurt Hope on purpose, and Rebekah was already convinced.

 

“How is she at school, by the way? Does she have other friends?”

 

“Well, there’s Alaric,” Penelope jokes. Rebekah knows that Hope wasn’t really a people person and she spends a lot of time just training with the headmaster. “And Josie.”

 

Rebekah notices the shift in Penelope’s tone.

 

“You don’t seem to happy about that.” She says as she raises an eyebrow in question.

 

“I am I just-“

 

“Are you jealous?” Rebekah asks with a small laugh. “Do you like Hope like-“

 

“Oh my god no.” Penelope cuts her off. “I mean, not that Hope isn’t pretty for that or-“

 

 _It wasn’t like Hope was not good enough for her to like her like that_ , she wanted to say, but Rebekah was glaring at her for suggesting any negativity towards her niece.

 

Penelope sighs in defeat. “It’s just that…ugh, just, Josie’s my ex and I don’t really like talking about her.”

 

Rebekah’s lips form an ‘o’ before she realizes something.

 

“Wait, you mean Josie Saltzman?” Penelope nods. “Hope mentioned once that her ex was the one who found the cure for the Merge that was bound to kill one of the Gemini twins, that was _you_?”

 

Penelope fakes a gasp.

“Wow, you don’t seem like you believe that.”

 

Rebekah gives her a small smile.

 

“I think I like you, Park.” She says before offering a cheers to Penelope. “Tell me a little about your trip to Belgium.”

 

* * *

 

After a few hours of drinking and catching up, Rebekah decided to call it a night for herself.

 

“Take care of yourself, Hope.” Rebekah says before pulling her niece in for a hug. “I love you.”

 

Hope closes her eyes, hugging her aunt tighter.

 

“I love you too, Aunt Rebekah. Always and forever.”

 

Rebekah’s heart aches at this.

 

“Always and forever.”

 

When the two pull away, Rebekah leans in to hug Penelope too, which surprises the young witch.

 

“Take care of each other and don’t drink too much.” Rebekah reminds them before hopping into a taxi.

 

“Where to next?” Penelope asks excitingly.

 

“Let’s go for a walk?”

 

The raven-haired with rolls her eyes at this suggestion.

 

“Come on, mutt, I wanna have _fun._ ”

 

“Fine, let’s buy some drinks and I’ll show you something.”

 

* * *

 

After getting two bottles of vodka, Hope leads Penelope to a bench that was quite secluded.

 

“God, New Orleans is pretty. I can’t believe you grew up here.” Penelope says as she looks around and takes a sip of her bottle.

 

“It is.” Hope can only say. She feels her heart grow heavier and heavier the longer they sat on the bench. She feels the sets growing colder and the air freezing on her skin despite the leather jacket she was wearing.

 

“What’s on your mind, Mikaelson?” Penelope asks when she notices Hope staring into nothing and being awfully quite.

 

Hope doesn’t know if she should actually say what’s on her mind. She didn’t want Penelope to carry the weight of the memories too.

 

But Penelope looks at her expectantly with sincerely concerned green eyes with golden specks that shone under the lamppost.

 

“My father gave up his life for me here.”

 

Penelope almost feels her breath hitch.

 

“Literally here.” Hope points to the space in front of the bench. Anxiety creeps up to her when Penelope just stares straight into that space.

 

Penelope expected herself to be afraid or at least creeped out by this, but she doesn’t. She just feels empathy for the girl beside her.

 

“It’s the first time I’ve been here since he died.” Hope looks down on her legs crossed in front of her. “I didn’t think I could do it. I try _so hard_ not to think about-“ She closes her eyes to fight the tears from falling.

 

Penelope notices this and waits for Hope to compose herself before she continues.

 

She can’t believe how cruel the world must be to make someone like Hope feel like she’s not worth it. It’s not that she was worth it because she is _the_ tribrid or because she is a Mikaelson, Hope is worth it because she is Hope – the strong, caring, loving, sarcastic, smart, amazing girl Penelope knew.

 

Penelope’s stomach drops because she can’t even do anything to make Hope think the same.

 

“I try not to wonder if it was worth it, if what my dad and my uncle did was worth it.” Penelope knows what Hope was talking about, Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson dying _for Hope_.

 

Penelope moves closer to Hope, using her index finger to lift the girl’s face up. Sadness filled Hope’s ocean eyes, filling Penelope’s heart with sadness too.

 

“Everything your father and your uncle did was worth it. It’s worth it if it’s for you.” She tries to convince Hope with a small smile which the other girl returns.

 

The tribrid was still unsure, but somehow, Penelope’s words touches her heart and makes her believe that she _is_ worth it, even just a little bit.

 

“ _You’re worth it._ ” Penelope then cups Hope’s cheek with her hand and wipes her tears with her thumb.  Green eyes focused on blue ones. “Come here.”

 

Penelope pulls Hope in for a hug. Hope sighs in Penelope’s shoulder, the weight of everything seemingly disappearing from her shoulders.

 

//

 

After spilling their stories to each other over drinks and under the New Orleans moonlight, the two decided to head back to the hotel.

 

This mean Penelope supporting Hope on her shoulders because as it turns out, Hope isn’t good with alcohol. Halfway through her bottle of vodka, the girl was already slurring words and now that she’s finished with it, she can barely walk.

 

Penelope, on the other hand, was better, and after holding Hope’s hair back to puke for the past ten minutes, she’s only a little buzzed.

 

When they arrive at the hotel, Penelope was careful not to let teachers or other students see what Hope and her have been up to.

 

One student sees them though, but thank heavens it was MG.

 

“You girls had a fun night, huh?” MG said as he helps Penelope support Hope to the elevator.

 

“Fun until she dropped dead,” Penelope chuckles. Hope opens her sleepy eyes wide, fighting the effect of alcohol on her.

 

“I did not die!” She raises her index finger in emphasis to Penelope then MG. “I am immortal. I’m a fucking tribrid!!” She announces to the elevator walls.

 

“Your head gets bigger when you’re drunk, huh?” Penelope and MG laughs.

 

“ _Your_ head is big all the time!” She points at Penelope.

 

MG shakes his head. “Damn, Peez, how much did she drink?”

 

“A bottle of vodka.” She shrugs.

 

The elevator ride wasn’t long, and soon enough they were in the 14th floor and MG is waving the two girls goodbye.

 

“O-kay, just a little bit more.” Penelope says as she guides Hope to her own bed. She lets Hope plop down on her bed as soon as she was sure she wouldn’t end up hitting her head anywhere when she drops.

 

Penelope makes Hope drink water.

 

She takes her own jacket and shoes off before proceeding to take Hope’s shoes off, knowing that Hope was too buzzed to do it herself. She walks to the side to sit Hope up and help her take her jacket off. She wasn’t as drunk anymore, but she was tired, so she let Penelope help her.

 

“Raf kept asking me out today.” Hope mentions out of nowhere. “I don’t wanna go out with, why is he being such a pushy dog.” She pouts as she lets Penelope take off her jacket.

 

“Yeah, I noticed him trying to talk to you earlier too.”

 

Hope turns around to face her friend. She was only slightly buzzed now, thanks to her body’s ability to recover fast.

 

“Can you make him stop? Please, Pen?” She stares at Penelope with puppy eyes, convinced that it would work on her, but her friend just laughs at her attempt.

 

“Why don’t you do it?” Penelope finally gets Hope’s jacket off. She tosses it in the table on the corner of the room and turns to her own bed, but Hope grabs her hand.

 

“Stay with me.” Penelope wanted to say no, but after what Hope had told her that night about her life, she figured that her friend needed comfort, so she agrees with a ‘fine.’ Hope lays down and Penelope lays beside her.

 

Penelope has never been this close to someone except for Josie. It has always given her a new perspective of Josie when they were as close as this. And right now, being this close to Hope and after all the stories spilled tonight, she sees a strong and beautiful human who has endured so much but has still managed to keep a golden heart.

 

Then her thoughts get interrupted when Hope continues their conversation.

 

“I don’t wanna seem rude to Landon’s brother.” She states it as if it was obvious. “Landon and I are friends and I don’t wanna ruin that because of stupid Raf.”

 

The way Raf’s name comes out of Hope’s mouth told Penelope that she was serious. But Penelope laughs to lighten the mood and also because she finds it funny how Hope sounds like a five-year-old saying _stupid Raf_ as an insult.

 

“Okay, the next time he hits on you, I’ll make sure teen wolf will know his place.”

 

“How are you gonna do that?” Hope looks up at her.

 

“I’ll kiss you.” Penelope says matter-of-factly. Hope laughs at this then Penelope does too. If they were being honest, they both didn’t know if that was a joke or not.

 

Hope moves closer to Penelope and the other girl wraps her arms around her.

 

They stay in silence for a few seconds. Penelope thinks has fallen asleep already.

 

But then she speaks up.

 

“Thank you, Pen, you’re a great person.”

 

Penelope looks down on Hope whose eyes were still closed.

 

“You’re great too, Hope.”

 

She sees Hope smile a little.

 

“I love you, Pen.”

 

“I love you too, Hope.”

 

Penelope drifts off to sleep, the events of today tiring her into a deep slumber.

 

* * *

 

MG walks back to his hotel room after making sure that Penelope and Hope were okay. When he reaches the third floor, someone speaks from behind him.

 

“MG?”

 

He turns around to see Josie walking towards him. Her hair was wet and she was holding a towel on her arms.

 

“Oh hey, Jo. Why are you still up?”

 

“Went for a late night swim in the pool, you?”

 

MG doesn’t know if he should tell Josie where he was just at, but knew that he wasn’t good at lying too. Besides, Hope is Josie’s best friend.

 

“Went down to ask something in the front desk then helped Penelope and Hope up.”

 

Josie’s demeanor instantly shifted with concern.

 

“Why? What happened to them?”

 

“They just went out and Hope drank a little too much, no biggie.”

 

“Oh okay.” Josie replies. She was worried about Hope, knowing that her best friend had _really_ low alcohol tolerance.

 

“Well, I gotta go. Goodnight, Jo!” Josie waves him goodbye and says a goodnight before the vampire was off and in his room.

 

Josie decides to visit Hope and Penelope to check up on her best friend. She knows how to sober the girl up, so maybe she can help.

 

She helped her dad with organizing the room assignments for the trip and with Hope being her best friend, she knows where the two are.

 

She holds her fist up to knock once she reaches their door, but decides not to do so yet when she hears Penelope’s laughter.

 

She missed that laugh and she wanted to stay there and just listen to it a little longer.

 

She finds herself leaning onto the door closer as it fades, despite knowing that this is invasion of privacy.

 

She hears Penelope speak.

 

_“Okay, the next time he hits on you, I’ll make sure teen wolf will know his place.”_

 

She quickly knows that they’re talking about Raf. He’s pretty much the only guy Penelope calls that, she always has. But… _know his place_? Isn’t he flirting with Hope? Penelope will make sure Raf knows his place in Hope’s life?

 

_“How are you gonna do that?”_

_“I’ll kiss you.”_

Josie feels her heart drop then. What does that mean? Are they together now? No, they can’t be. Hope wouldn’t do that to her. _Penelope_ wouldn’t do that to her. She wanted to run away, but it felt like her legs were stuck.

 

Silence.

 

_“Thank you, Pen, you’re a great person.”_

_“You’re great too, Hope.”_

_“I love you, Pen.”_

Josie felt like a bullet how just been shot at her heart and it hurt even more than the malivore bullet.

 

_“I love you too, Hope.”_

 

The bullet explodes in heart and the next thing Josie knows, she pacing fast into the elevator and to her room.

 

Hope wouldn’t do that to her.

 

 _Penelope_ wouldn’t do that to her.

 

She wanted to be mad at them, but she tells herself didn’t have the right to.

 

She can’t be mad at them, so instead she runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suggest you guys search the hotel and the carousel mentioned here cause they're pretty cute hehe
> 
> And uhm wanna see that kiss sooner or later? Or do you even wanna see it at all?
> 
> Also, what do you think will happen to Phosie after this? Asking for opinions bc ngl I don't know what to do next lol


	7. My Penelope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parties and love triangles = not a good match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be one hell of a ride but since y'all seem to want both Posie and Henelope, we going✈️love triangle (for now)

Everything is getting blurry.

That’s all Josie knows as she sprints back to her hotel room.

Everything was getting blurry.

Her friendship with Hope – they haven’t spent that much time together lately, and now she’s just heard her tell Penelope those three words.

Her friendship with Penelope, if there's even  one in the first place – she doesn’t know if she can be friends with her ex who she’s falling for again but she’s just heard tell her best friend _those three damn words_.

Her vision – everything is getting blurry as tears start streaming down her face and shows no time of stopping.

She stops in front of the hotel room she shares with Lizzie, hesitating to go inside. Lizzie will have another fit if she sees Josie like this, more so over the fact that the reason involves Penelope.

Josie decides to calm herself down before entering the room. She sits on the hallway, praying that no one would pass by and see her like that.

A few minutes later, she hears footsteps getting nearer. She brushes this off in hopes that whoever was there would just ignore her.

But the person stops before her and takes a seat beside her.

“I’m guessing you checked on the outlaws,” MG states after a few moments of silence passes between him and Josie.

"Outlaws?"

"That's just how the others call them with all their sneaking out and breaking your dad's rules." MG shrugs. _Great, now they're the school's favorite couple too,_ Josie thinks. "So what happened when you checked on them?”

“I- how do you know something happened?”

MG shrugs and states his answer like it was obvious.

“You’re crying and not with Lizzie or Hope? Clearly has something to do with Lizzie's two most hated beings because if not, then you’d be crying to Lizzie or Hope by now.”

Josie nods, MG makes a fair and accurate point.

“So what happened?”

So Josie tells him about what she heard earlier. MG gives her a look of empathy and pulls her in for a hug.

“But I guess I have to be happy for them, right? They’re my friends.”

“I guess,” was the only thing MG could say. The three girls are his friends, and no matter how the situation turns out, he knows that one of them will get hurt.

 _Love can be a shitty thing,_ MG realizes as he lets Josie cry on his shoulder. 

 

* * *

  
The students were required to wake up early for today’s plans, which meant that Hope had to fight her hellish hangover to get through the day.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be fine?” Penelope asks her for the fifth time before going out to meet her other witch friends.

“Yes, I’m gonna be fine,” Hope replies. She sees Penelope open her mouth, surely to argue again, so she continues. “I’m gonna be with Josie for the day, I’m gonna be fine.”

Penelope can’t help but actually get jealous. When they were still together, her and Josie daydreamed about when they would finally be on their senior trip. They planned out late night dates and sneaking out and always being buddies during the tours. Sadly, planning years ahead turned out to be a wrong move.

 

Sometimes Penelope wishes she can be in Hope's place for a few moments.

  
The students’ first stop was a museum somewhere in New Orleans and Hope can’t help but notice that Josie has been awfully quiet.

“Hey, Jo, are you okay?” She waves a hand in front of the brunette, snapping the girl out of her trance.

“Yep, all good, one hundred percent.” Hope raises an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, that’s so convincing,” she says sarcastically. “What’s up?”

_What’s up? You’re with my ex girlfriend, that’s what’s up! I’ve told you about how conflicted I am about her and you tell you love her?_

Josie wanted to yell all of that to Hope’s face right now, but she doesn’t. Realization hits her first – she isn’t with Penelope anymore, she made sure of that by telling her they should be friends, and she always tells Hope that she doesn’t want to get back with Penelope anymore – so why is she feeling like this? 

“Nothing, I just didn’t get enough sleep last night. The room was too small.”

Josie mentally curses at the lame excuse she gives, but Hope seems to buy it.

“Oh, especially with your sister.”

“Be nice.”

“Right.” Josie thought was gonna drop it, but she was wrong. “You could sleep over at our room later?”

“Okay.” The words fall out of Josie’s mouth before she can even process what Hope just said. She’s been so used to agreeing with plans with her best friend that she doesn’t realize what the offer entails.

 _Oh shit_ , she thinks once she realizes the mess she’s just put herself in. Great, I just signed myself up to be my ex and best friend’s third wheel. Smart fucking move, Josette.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she doesn’t realize Hope’s already planning their movie night.

“We can watch The Notebook too, I know that’s your favorite movie.” Hope suggests.

_This is gonna be a long night._

 

* * *

  
It was already dark when the planned tour ended and the students were allowed to go out again.

Josie has been busy trying to come up with an excuse to get out of her movie night with Hope and Penelope, but so far she’s got nothing. That could probably be blamed at her constantly watching Penelope once she’s in the same room, laughing with her friends and looking annoyingly and effortlessly beautiful. Add her trying to get Hope to spill any clues to her if they’re actually together. You can say she’s been a little distracted.

Hope catches on to this, but tries to deflect it. Josie’s asked her multiple times if she’s dating anyone right now (as if they don’t tell each other about everything regarding that) or if she finds anyone cute. Subtlety isn't really Josie's forte. 

Hope knows her best friend well enough to know that she’s bothered by her being close to Penelope.

This was further proven earlier at lunch when Penelope went up to them to say hi and Josie practically scurried away saying that she had to go to the bathroom.

If this was any other day, Hope would have talked to Josie straight up about the whole situation, but it wasn’t any other day.

Hope hates to admit it but Penelope has grown to be very important to her. In what way? She wasn’t quite sure just yet.

Penelope has made her open up so fast in so many ways that no one has ever done. It’s like the girl sees through her tough act and name and to her soul with those damn green eyes. She would like to believe that the girl feels the same way about her.

And if she were honest, it scared Hope how Penelope knows her and she knows Penelope. Does this mean she liked her in a way other than platonically? She hopes not, because she knows Josie too, and Penelope is the love of her life even though she wouldn’t admit it right now.

So Hope doesn’t talk about it and remains acting oblivious.

Her phone rings with a message. Josie notices this and sees that someone texted Hope. She watches the tribrid message back and forth with someone, noting how fast they must be replying. _Is that Penelope?_

> **Muggle** : We’re going out tonight. Invite others too.
> 
> **Mutt** : can I invite josie?

Penelope actually contemplates what to answer because Josie meant Lizzie too, but she agrees because she wasn’t just going to reject Josie.

> **Muggle** : The more the merrier.
> 
> **Mutt** : cool. Where are we going?
> 
> **Muggle** : A bar Sofia saw online. Pick you up at 8. Eat dinner so you won’t get drunk early again.
> 
> **Mutt** : okay

“Penelope’s inviting us to go out to a bar tonight,” Hope states once she finally puts her phone back down.

 _So it is Penelope? And 'muggle?' Not only did Penelope let her call her by a nickname but by 'muggle?'_ Josie is so filled with jealousy she can't even think of a good excuse to plan yet another hangout with the new it couple.

“I actually-“

Hope cuts Josie off, knowing fully well that she would just reject the offer.

“That was not a question, it was a _statement_. We’re going.”

“I don’t think drinking with your ex is a good idea.” Josie tries to reason. _Especially if she’s dating your best friend._

Hope tries to push her more. She knows the two are working on their friendship and it’s the least she can do.

“Drinking with your friends is. I thought you guys are friends now?”

Josie sighs in defeat.

“Right. Fine."

 

* * *

 

Hope and Josie were talking about their love for Friends when they hear a knock on the door and Penelope enters.

“I bought a muffuletta because surely you were too-“ Penelope stops what she was saying once she sees that Josie was in the room too. “Oh hi, I didn’t know you’d be here.” She says when she sees Josie sitting on Hope’s bed. “I bought dinner for Hope but it’s big enough for you guys to share anyway.”

Hope can practically feel the awkwardness in the air and right now she wishes that Penelope didn’t know her well enough to know that she would’ve been to lazy to get dinner in the middle of the tour earlier and then being back in their room.

Josie tries to look anywhere but Penelope.  _She's bringing her dinner now too, how. fucking. cute._

Penelope hands the paper bag to Hope before gathering a change of clothes so she can get ready to go out.

“Well, let’s eat.” Hope says when Penelope leaves the room to change. She hands out a slice of the sandwich to Josie who reluctantly tries the food.

When the three were finally ready, they went down to the lobby to wait for the others to arrive.

MG, Raf, Jed, and some other students were already there.

“Is your sister coming?” Penelope asks Josie. The brunette is a little surpised at how nice Penelope was being to her.  _Oh right, we agreed to be friends. Just friends._

“Yeah, I think she’ll be down soon.” Penelope just nods which surprises Josie. She expected Penelope to insult how long Lizzie was taking or even just for Penelope to express her annoyance towards her sister, but she doesn’t, instead she proceeds to talk with Jed and MG about some new DC movie that was coming out soon.

Josie’s annoyance at how she couldn’t figure out anything about Penelope right now just escalates when Sofia arrives. She has noticed the witch trying to flirt with Penelope since the school year started and it hasn’t come past her to see Penelope reciprocating the attention sometimes.

 _Why does everyone like her so much? She’s not that great,_ she tries to convince herself, but she can only do so much convincing because she knew herself just how captivating Penelope can be, especially as you get closer to her little by little. And Sofia  _and_ Hope are getting a little too close for Josie's liking. 

Lizzie finally arrives after a few minutes.

“Where are we going?” She asks as they were walking to the club Penelope mentioned earlier.

“A club Pen and Sofia saw online.” Hope replies.

“Satan and her hell hound? I can’t believe you made me go to this!” She rants to nobody in particular.

Penelope turns around to face her before replying nonchalantly, “No one forced you, blonde bitch, you can leave now if you want to, nobody’s stopping you.”

Lizzie glares at Penelope before looking back to her sister who looks at her with a _be nice_ look. She huffs before muttering a _whatever_ and soon enough they were walking again.

 

* * *

  
The place wasn’t really Josie’s scene, so she was thankful that Hope was there with her. Penelope has spent the past hour they’ve been in the club with her other witch friends and Sofia. The latter and the way that Penelope has been dancing way too close to Sofia has convinced Josie that maybe Hope and Penelope aren’t actually together.  _Mayne there's a chance. Josette, stop yourself._

But it doesn’t mean that seeing Penelope with Sofia didn’t bother her, which meant her ordering her fourth glass of alcohol in an hour. She was only starting to get buzzed and she can feel her feelings getting heightened.

Hope notices how Josie’s been drinking more than usual, but brushes it off as a result of Lizzie ranting to them about her now ex-boyfriend because that’s what she has been doing. Lizzie is getting on her nerves so much she thinks she can just rip her hair out in annoyance.

That’s when she feels someone’s arm wrap around her waist. She turns to see who it was and of course, the ever aggressive Rafael.

She quickly removes his hands off of her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Raf?” She spits out.

“I was thinking we could dance.” Hope notices the smell of alcohol evident in the boy’s scent.

“No, we’re not doing that.” She looks around the table to get someone to help her because if she handles this herself, she might hurt Raf. Lizzie has already left the table as soon as Raf showed up, she’s always been bitter about Raf not wanting to date her and didn’t want to see him flirting with another girl.

“Leave her alone, Raf.” Josie glares at the werewolf but he ignores her.

“Come on, Hope, just one dance.” He’s pulling her to the dance floor now.

Hope feels a hand holding onto her other wrist.

She expects to see Josie but meets green eyes instead.

“She said no, teen wolf.” Penelope glares at the boy, making him shake his head.

Josie watches the exchange happen, memories of the night with the bonfire flashing back. She feels another pang in her chest as she hears the words from last night.

_I love you, Pen._

_I love you too, Hope._

“I said leave her alone, Raf.” Josie interjects. The glass in her hand is suddenly in flames. She sees Hope and Penelope’s hands intertwined at the corner of her eye, the fire flickering more aggressively by the second, but she convinces herself that it was because of Raf coming onto Hope aggressively, not because of Hope and Penelope. _My Penelope._

“You _again_? And _pyrotwin_?” Raf chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief and annoyance. “Whatever. We’ll dance later, Hope.”

He finally lets Hope’s hand go, leaving Hope, Penelope, and Josie by the table. Penelope lets go of Hope’s hand then, and the fire dies down from Josie’s glass.

“I swear that idiot doesn’t know what no means.” Penelope says as she relaxes on a seat.

Josie is suddenly very aware of just how close Penelope was right now. She is seated beside her, their arms almost touching, and she can smell the raven haired girl’s expensive perfume that she’s been wearing since they were in freshman year, the scent makes Josie uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time.

“Thanks for that again.” Hope says before starting a conversation.

The conversation flows shockingly smoothly between them until Lizzie comes back.

“Ugh, you’re hanging out with Satan’s spawns again?” She spits out before sitting on the other side of Josie.

Penelope just rolls her eyes at this before standing up. She wasn’t going to let Lizzie ruin her night, especially not when she’s finally getting into a relatively friendly state with Josie.

“I’m gonna go drink with the other witches.” She announces to the table.

Hope has the same idea as Penelope, and frankly she was too tired to deal with Lizzie now.

“Me too. You, Jo?” Josie declines, Hope knew she would. She knew that the girl wouldn’t just leave her sister alone even if it meant listening to her rant about the same old things for the hundredth time.

__

* * *

  
Hope and Penelope thought that Rafael was done bothering them (after he tried dancing with Hope earlier again twice), but the werewolf seemed unfazed.

The two girls are currently drinking by the bar, talking and laughing, when Hope sees Rafael over Penelope’s shoulder approaching them yet again.

“Ugh, he’s coming towards us again.” She huffs before taking a big sip of her drink.

“God he doesn’t know how to stop, huh?” Penelope looks tired of trying to shoo the boy away all night. But then her face suddenly lights up. “I know something to definitely back him off.”

Hope was confused at first, but then she remembers what Penelope said to her last night.

 _I can kiss you_ , is that her idea?

 _It can’t be, right?_ Her feelings are too complicated for this right now.

“I can kiss you.” The words finally leave Penelope’s mouth top casually. _Shit_. Hope’s thankful that Penelope doesn’t have supernatural hearing abilities because if she does, she was sure that she’d be hearing how loud her heart was beating right now. _Shit, this is just the alcohol, right?_

She wanted to say no, but Rafael was getting closer again and she was going to explode and hurt him if he comes onto her again tonight. And Hope knows that Raf would not go for someone Penelope’s dating (they weren’t actually dating but Raf would think that they are, so it counts) or even going after — he’d be too egoistic to admit it but he knows he’d lose to Penelope and the witch would hex her if he tries anyway.

 _Shit_.

“Let’s do it.” She says.

The next thing she knows, Penelope’s lips are on hers. Soft lips dancing with hers. She lets herself get lost in the kiss, her eyes closed, not even noticing Rafael staring in shock and realization that he might be in bigger trouble with Penelope now.

Hope feels Penelope’s soft lips on hers, she can feel her perfume enveloping her, Penelope’s hands on her hair. 

_Penelope this. Penelope that. Penelope. Penelope. Penelope._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penelope is one hell of a girl, huh? 
> 
> P.S. Pyro Josie is my favorite Josie 😛✊
> 
> Will post the next chapter when this reaches 2.1k hits so see ya!


	8. The Love of My Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments omg I can't reply to all of them bc I've been busy but AAAAA thank you so much!!
> 
> And this is kinda late for the 2.1k sorry but sleep caught me haha

Hope feels Penelope’s soft lips on hers, Penelope’s hands on her hair.

 

Penelope is so close she can easily be intoxicated by Penelope's perfume, fresh and musky against the smell of alcohol in the club.

 

She lets herself get lost in the kiss, the fear of falling for Penelope tossed to the sides.

 

Penelope lets herself get lost too, she was convinced earlier that this might lead to the worst: to her falling for Hope or Hope falling for her.

 

Soft lips on soft lips.

 

Penelope’s hands on Hope’s hair.

 

Hope’s hands warm on Penelope’s neck.

 

The taste of vodka on Hope’s lips.

 

The beer in Penelope’s lips.

 

Loud music muffling gasps from those who saw.

 

The head witch in charge and the golden tribrid are together?

 

They let themselves get lost in the kiss.

 

But they _don’t_.

 

 

Hope doesn’t feel anything. Her heart wasn’t racing anymore and she wasn’t scared of what she’s feeling at all.

Because this was just her trying to get an oblivious boy to leave her alone.

 

  
Penelope doesn’t feel anything. This was just her helping a friend get an annoying guy off her back.

She didn’t fall for Hope and Hope didn’t fall for her. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

 

 

Then they realize almost simultaneously: _shit, Josie_.

 

They pull away, seeing that Raf was walking away now. Looking back once to see if the two noticed him — of course they have.

 

They look around and see another person walking away, Josie.

 

  
It seems like the only thing that fell is Josie’s heart – like a vase that hit the ground and shattered the moment she saw the love of her life in the arms of her best friend.

 

  
Hope covers her mouth while Penelope just goes back to drinking.

 

“Shit, I think Josie saw,” Hope states. She looks back to Penelope who was staring at her glass, swirling the alcohol with the ice cubes.

 

“She doesn’t care anymore,” she shrugs, a sad smile forming on her face. But she knows Josie does care. She couldn’t just not care about me, right? Penelope thinks to herself, hoping that the answer would be in her favor.

 

“Pen, you know she does.” Hope tells her with a knowing look painted on her face. The tribrid puts a hand on her shoulder and Penelope is convinced, Hope wouldn’t lie to her about this.

 

Her nonchalant façade falls right there. There was something about Hope that made Penelope believe everything she says. 

 

“Can you check on her? Please?” Hope sees the look on Penelope’s face begging her to help her, to stop her from losing the girl, the last word escaping her mouth with vulnerability that quickly fades.

 

“Yeah, I’ll go explain everything,” Hope says, standing up. She kisses Penelope’s cheek before leaving, “Thanks again, muggle.”

 

Hope can’t help but think that if Josie and Penelope never gets back together, it would be because of her. Josie has always been a selfless person, not having any problems with sharing, but all of that was different when it came to Penelope. Josie never liked sharing Penelope, not even after they broke up.

 

Hope knew this, she saw how Josie would stare and glare whenever someone would try to flirt with Penelope – which meant almost everyday (the green-eyed witch had a way of attracting people), she saw how Josie still kept a picture of her and Penelope on her desk, and how Josie still kept her and Penelope’s promise ring from when they were 15 in her wallet to keep it safe but hidden.

 

Hell, Hope saw how Josie was bothered at how close Penelope and her were even though the brunette wouldn’t admit it.

 

But Penelope had a way of attracting people, and she got pulled in too – she was afraid it would be romantic, but it doesn’t seem that way _right now._

 

So she walks away to find Josie, convinced now that she has no feelings other than platonic ones for Penelope, and determined to get her two best friends’ happiness back to them, which meant getting them back together.

 

It’s Hope being Hope again, Hope trying to save the day.

 

She easily finds Josie sitting on a bench outside the bar after looking around for a few seconds.

 

“I know you saw that,” Hope says as she sits beside Josie.

 

The siphon stares at her feet and wipes her tears. _Fuck, I should be happy for them, why am I crying? I don’t have a right to get jealous anymore anyway._

 

“It’s not what it-“ Hope starts but Josie cuts her off.

 

“It’s not what it means, yeah, I’ve heard that countless times in movies, Hope. It’s okay if you guys are together now, you don’t have to explain.”

 

“No, no, oh my god, we’re not. It’s really not what it looks like, Jo.”

 

“Yeah? Then tell me right now that I didn’t just see my best friend and the love of my life kissing each other inside that _stupid_ bar? Did you just invite me here to shove _that_ in my face?” Josie’s voice was getting louder and angrier now. Hope puts her hands on her shoulders to calm her down but she shakes them off.

 

“She was just trying to get Raf off my back, alright?” Hope sees the confused look on Josie’s face. “And you thought we were together? Why?”

 

“Are you kidding?” Josie is evidently exasperated as she stands up from the bench. “Everybody thinks that. You’re like joined to the hip with each other, you have this cute little nicknames with each other, and you literally just made out ik that bar, Hope! Are you forgetting that? I can’t blame you though, Penelope is something else.” Josie is talking so loud so fast that Hope can’t even interrupt her. She just listens to her drone on about her version of truths. “I expected this from other people, Hope, but not from my best friend.”

 

Josie finally stops to catch her breath, all her feelings spilled in a matter of seconds.

 

"Are you done?” Hope stands up and arches her eyebrows at Josie, and the siphon nods. “ _One_. We’re friends and roommates, so naturally, we’d spend a lot of time together. _Two_. Okay, I get the thing about the nicknames but honestly, Jo, they’re just nicknames.” Though Hope knew they were not. “ _Three and four_. Yes, we did kiss, which is why I’m here because I know you saw and I know you’re upset.”

 

Josie rolls her eyes at this. She was mad and annoyed and jealous and she didn’t care about excuses.

 

“We made it seem like we’re together so Raf would get off my back. He’d never go for what’s Penelope’s. We know that with how he never went for you even though he had a crush on you from the start.”

 

“I’m not Penelope’s.” Josie pouts at the realization of what Hope just said, trying to hide how flustered she was from being called _Penelope’s_. _Shit_ , why are there butterflies in her stomach right now?  _But no, I'm not Penelope's, not anymore._ _And she's not mine either._

 

“Jo, you literally just called her the love of your life a few seconds ago, Penelope’s yours and I think you’re hers.”

 

The butterflies in Josie’s stomach are getting crazy now. Hope gives her a small smile.

 

 _This is it_ – Hope being Hope, saving the day.

 

“So you guys aren’t together? You don’t have feelings for each other? I heard you and your I love you’s last night.” She says shyly.

 

“You heard us? Jo, where you _spying_ on us?” Hope’s mouth fell open in shock but quickly dismisses it. “You know what? Whatever, that’s not what’s important right now. Those I love you’s are platonic, alright?” She takes Josie’s hands in hers to show her sincerity. “I’m not gonna lie to you because you’re my best friend, alright? I thought I might’ve feelings for her lately, but the kiss proved otherwise. I guess Penelope Park just has a way of pulling people in, but nothing romantic between us. No feelings on my side anyway, I know I can be irresistible.”

 

Hope jokes to lighten up the mood. Josie  _did_ like her before too anyway. 

 

“Shut up!” Josie hits her arm playfully before wiping the tears that has started to form in her eyes. 

 

Maybe it was just Penelope Park pulling Hope in with her being her, just like the way she’s being pulled in right now.

 

“I believe you.”

 

“Good,” Hope says before standing up and reaching a hand out to her best friend. “Now go get your girl.”

 

 

* * *

 

Penelope is left sitting by the bar, waiting for Hope to come back or at least message her that everything was fine.

 

She doesn’t regret kissing Hope, she'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant Hope wouldn’t be bothered by Rafael anymore, but the repercussions of Josie seeing it scared her. 

 

The chances of them getting back together was slim to none, but it doesn’t mean Penelope wasn’t hoping anymore, and Josie seeing that kiss might have just catastrophically decreased that slim chance yet again. But then again,  _does Josie still care?_

 

She doesn’t know why she’s still hoping for a chance with Josie, the universe is obviously set on not letting them get back together.

 

Her thoughts are disrupted by Lizzie’s voice cutting through the loud music.

 

"What the fuck were you and satan number two doing tongue chumming in front of my sister?” Lizzie grabs Penelope’s arm, turning her to face her.

 

“That’s none of your business, Lizzie. And let go of me.” She shakes Lizzie’s hand off of her before turning back to her drink.

 

“You’re really a bitch, do you know that?”

 

“Tell yourself that,” Penelope stands up to leave, but Lizzie grabs her arm to stop her.

 

“Don’t walk away from me. And I’m not letting you hurt my sister again, satan.”

 

“Why don’t you back off, Lizzie?” Penelope shakes Lizzie’s hand off her again.

 

By now, some students have noticed the commotion. Jed rushed beside Penelope and MG was beside Lizzie to stop the fight from getting worse.

 

“No, you back off! I’m doing what’s best for my sister!”

 

Penelope scoffs at this. She crosses her hands and deadpans at Lizzie.

 

“You think making her your butler is what’s best for her?”

 

“How dare you!”

 

Lizzie raises her hand to slap Penelope, but the girl catches her wrist before she hits her.

 

Penelope doesn’t say another word. She just glares at Lizzie before dropping her hand.

 

She wanted to yell and curse and hurt Lizzie, but making a scene in the middle of a bar is beyond her.

 

She’s _Penelope Park_ , and Penelope Park doesn’t stoop low.

 

“Let’s go, Pen.” Jed tells her before escorting her out of the bar.

 

When they finally get out of the loud room, Jed drops his hands from around Penelope’s shoulder.

 

“I’m going back to the hotel,” Penelope says.

 

“I’m going with you.”

 

“You don’t have to, enjoy the night.”

 

“I _want_ to,” Jed says sternly. “I’ll go with you, alright?”

 

Penelope smiles at her cousin, thankful that he was there with her right now.

 

As they wait for a taxi, they see Josie and Hope approaching the bar.

 

The smile on their faces tell Penelope that the talk went well, but she can’t quite focus on that right now with the pain of Lizzie telling her to back off yet again beating her.

 

The taxi arrives just as the two do.

 

“Where are you going?” Hope asks, confused.

 

“I’ll see you back at the hotel,” Penelope says before getting in the taxi. 

 

She doesn’t even spare a glance at Josie, making the girl’s heart drop from her chest. Looking at Josie when she can’t be close hurts Penelope. She wanted to stay with Hope but she can’t even do that with Josie there right now.

 

 _What the hell happened?_ Josie thought. Suddenly, Hope telling her that she is the love of Penelope’s life didn’t seem credible anymore.

 

“Someone inside can explain everything to you guys,” Jed says. He offers the two a small apologetic smile before getting into the taxi.

 

Hope and Josie are left in confusion for a short while before Lizzie and MG burst out the door.

 

“Good, you two are here.” She says before looking around. MG looks tired behind her. “Where did satan and her pet dog go?”

 

Anger and disgust dripped from Lizzie’s voice. Josie asks what happened and MG fills them in as the blonde leaves her comments here and there.

 

“ _Lizzie_ , you shouldn’t have done that.” Josie tells her sister, which makes the other scoff.

 

“Are you seriously defending her right now, Jo? And why are you here with this dad stealer?” Lizzie turns her attention to Hope. “Now that you’ve added snake to the mix, what does that make of you? Werewolf, vampire, witch, snake, surely there’s a term for that, or is it just _Hope Mikaelson?_ ”

 

Hope just rolls her eyes to focus on the more important problem at hand which trying to reach Penelope by calling her. She had to know Penelope is alright.

 

“Lizzie,  _stop_. And I’m not defending Penelope, I mean I am, I’m not, no, I’m just…” Josie doesn’t know what to say. Saying yes would anger her sister and saying no would be a lie.

 

Hope hears this and puts her phone down.

 

“You’re _not_ defending Penelope?” Hope asked, finding what Josie just said unbelievable. “Penelope may be a bitch sometimes and she may have hurt you, but she didn’t deserve being dragged by your sister in the middle of a club!” Hope runs a hand through her hair in exasperation. "You should be thankful Penelope's beyond getting herself involved in bar fights or you wouldn't even be able to stand up right now."

 

"Excuse me?" Lizzie asks, ready to pounce on Hope but MG stops her. 

 

Josie is so conflicted right now, she knows that Hope is right, but what else can she do?

 

“God, maybe you _don’t_ deserve Penelope.” Hope says and Josie feels like an arrow is literally shot through her heart. She looks at Hope. The tribrid seems so different now, like the way she was the night of the bonfire — she was ready to pounce and defend Penelope’s honor.

 

“What the fuck, Hope?” Lizzie interjects. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

 

She turns to Lizzie now.

 

“No, Lizzie! _You_ don’t know what you’re talking about. If you and your sister spent more time outside of the pedestal you have put yourselves in and gave a little thought to how Penelope has been, maybe you would know the truth, maybe Penelope would’ve already told you.”

 

The twins didn’t know what to say as the meaning of Hope’s words slowly settle in them.

 

_Have they really put themselves in a pedestal? What truth has Penelope not told them yet?_

 

The tribrid spots a vacant taxi and calls it over.

 

 _I have been selfish. She’s getting hurt too and I didn’t bother to see it_ , Josie thinks to herself.

 

“I’m gonna go help find her,” Josie says, but Lizzie grabs her arm to stop her.

 

“Don’t fall for it, Jo.”

 

“I’m gonna go find her, Lizzie. If you don’t wanna do that, _fine_ , but I’m gonna go.” She pulls her arm away from her sister before running to catch Hope’s taxi just in time and leaves.

 

The two sit in awkward silence.

 

“I’m sorry for bursting like that.” Hope said.

 

“I’m sorry too.”

 

“But I meant what I said.”

 

* * *

  
Penelope and Jed have been sitting in silence in the hotel tennis court for the past few minutes.

 

Penelope doesn’t know what to say. If her mother could see her right now, she’d be laughing at her. Here she was again, sitting on the floor in a dimly lit space, staring into darkness because the girl she loves doesn’t love her back. She’s just let herself be put down again because of Josie Saltzman.

 

Jed knew better than to poke his cousin if she’s not speaking first.

 

Thankfully, she does.

 

“I don’t know how to tell her, Jed.”

 

Jed already knows what Penelope is talking about. He knows that Penelope wants to tell Josie the truth about the Merge but she didn’t know how.

 

Penelope is afraid that Josie might hate her too much for keeping such a big secret from her.

 

Or worse, she might love her only for that and not for who she is, not like before.

 

Penelope’s phone rings before Jed can even speak. The loud ringing fills the silence of the tennis court.

 

She ignores the call, figuring it would probably Hope or MG or Sofia or maybe even Josie trying to reach her.

 

The caller calls two more times and Jed thinks his head might explode because of Penelope’s annoying ringtone.

 

“You gotta answer that.”

 

Penelope shakes her head. “I can’t.”

 

“P, I love you, but I swear if your phone doesn’t stop ringing I’m gonna have to take it and throw it across this court.”

 

Penelope rolls her eyes at Jed and laughs. She fishes her phone from the pocket of her leather jacket.

 

She was going to reject the call already, but she sees the caller ID: **Ava**.

 

* * *

 

 

When Hope and Josie arrive at the hotel, they go straight to the front desk to ask if they’ve seen Penelope or Jed, but they come up with nothing.

 

“Maybe we should split up.” Josie suggests, to which Hope nods to in agreement.

 

“You’re right. I’ll check our room and Jed’s. I’ll try calling Penelope too.”

 

“Okay, I’ll try the grounds.” Josie says.

 

Hope starts to walk to the elevator but stops before entering.

 

“Jo.” Josie turns to see a concerned Hope standing in front of the elevators. “If you see her, be careful with her, _please_.”

 

Josie smiles. She feels her heart soar for Penelope for having a friend like Hope.

 

“I will.”

 

* * *

 

Penelope walks back to Jed after taking Ava’s call.

 

Her heart feels heavy from the conversation and what happened earlier tonight.

 

Ava has just asked her to make a decision, and she knows that her answer should be the one _for herself_.

 

This meant that she had to tell Josie the truth as soon as possible. She had to tell Josie the truth now before it really is too late.

 

“What did Ava want?” Jed asks quite cheerfully. His demeanor quickly changes once he sees Penelope’s face filled with anxiety. “Hey, what’s up.”

 

Jed approaches Penelope, putting his hands on her shoulders. Their eyes meet and he sees just how serious she is.

 

“I gotta tell Josie now.”

 

“Wha-“ Jed starts.

 

“Tell me what?” The cousins turn their heads to where the voice came from.

 

And there she was.

 _"Josie_."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate comments so pls tell me what you think, I need validation hahaha
> 
> \------------------------------------------
> 
> Ooohhh Penelope's gonna have to tell Josie the truth now...but will she?
> 
> Henelope break for now before we all die of excitement but idk hmm
> 
> Will probably post again soon before I forget the plot I have in my head lol


	9. Belgium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damnnnn last chapter made you guys wanna ignalusa the story, huh? Skskksks
> 
> Anywayyyyyyyy
> 
> Y'all are gonna get fed, we got a long way to go lol
> 
> Comments are greatly appreciated!!

Josie is standing by the entrance of the tennis court that the cousins are standing in right now.

Jed looks at Penelope to ask what she wanted her to do.

Penelope nods to him, signaling that he can leave them.

Jed gives Penelope a brief tight hug. “I'll just be in my room, P,” he whispers in her ear before letting go and going back inside the hotel.

Josie approaches Penelope slowly and carefully, remembering what Hope told her. _Be careful with her, please._

“Hi.” Penelope smiles at her. It was that smile, the smile of admiration that Josie hasn’t seen in years. _Three years_ and it still made her heart flutter.

If only she knew the hidden moments that Penelope gave her that same smile when she wasn’t looking and doing what makes her happy – when she’d score during flag football, when she’s practicing a spell, when she’s laughing with MG, or even when she’s got her eyebrows scrunched together in focus while reading.

“What are you going to tell me?” Josie walks closer, rubbing her hands on her shoulders as the cold night air blew. She’s wearing a sleeveless top that offered her no warmth. 

Penelope notices this. Out of instinct, she removes her leather jacket and hands it to Josie. The brunette stares at it.

Memories of when they were together flashes back to both of them. Their dates wherein Josie would forget to bring a jacket and Penelope would give her own to her – though as time progressed Josie just didn’t bother bringing a jacket knowing Penelope would bring an extra one for her, she’s always loved the comfort Penelope’s clothes and how they smelled like her brought her.

“It’s going to be a long story.” Penelope says to convince her, not that she needed convincing. Josie grabs the jacket and puts it on.

She can’t help but let her eyes gaze at Penelope’s body that was only covered by her crop top and jeans now.

She’s become more fit and beautiful since Josie last saw her like this three years ago, if that was even possible.

Then she notices a scar running down Penelope’s body and reaches her hand out to touch it. She hears Penelope’s breath hitch but she doesn’t let the contact end just yet. She runs her index finger across the scar, making Penelope hold her breath.

“What happened, P?” Josie meets Penelope’s eyes. They’re so beautiful, she thinks to herself.

Maybe it was the touch or maybe it was Josie’s Bambi eyes looking at her that makes Penelope feel so small under the girl’s gaze.

“Belgium.”

Josie’s hands drop at that. The memories come flashing back to her – Penelope leaving, her burning the world down, nights spent crying in her bedroom floor, Penelope leaving, Penelope leaving, _Penelope leaving._

It hurts her still despite three years passing by them.

Josie clears her throat to avoid the topic.

But she can’t, not anymore, because Penelope had decided they can’t do that anymore.

“So? What do you have to tell me?” She asks. The way Penelope sighs makes her nervous. _What in the world does she have to say?_ Josie has never seen Penelope look this anxious, not even on their first date or when they first...

Penelope opens her mouth but closes it again. Josie sees the hesitation in the girl in front of her. She reaches out to touch Penelope’s cheek.

She doesn’t know why she did it, touching Penelope again, but it felt so right that she couldn’t let herself not have it.

The raven-haired girl leans to her touch instantly.

“Talk to me, Pen.” Her voice is so soft Penelope thinks her legs just turned to jelly. “Tell me, I’m here.”

Penelope loses her train of thought. Is it Josie’s voice? Her warm hands on Penelope’s cheek? Her words? _I’m here,_ Josie says it like a promise, but Penelope isn’t quite sure if she could keep it, not after this, not after everything, all the lies. 

Penelope reaches for Josie’s wrist, ending their short contact that sent chills down her spine.

She wanted the contact, but she isn’t sure if she can say what she has to say with Josie being that close.

“I don’t wanna do this anymore, Josie, I’m so tired.” Penelope lets out a huge sigh.

“Are you breaking up with me when we’re not even together?” Josie feels her body heat up in anger. Did she go through all this to spite me?

“No, no, I mean I can’t act friendly with you with all these-“

“No, Penelope, I meant what I said before, we should be friends and-“

“Josie, what the hell are you saying?” It turns out Lizzie has followed her sister was now mad at what she is seeing. She approaches the two, glaring at Penelope like she was plotting a murder.

“Great, you’re here.” Penelope scoffs. _Please make it stop_ , Penelope thinks as her heart feels heavier every second – the secret she’s been keeping and Ava’s question weighing down on her.

“Josie, let’s go.” Lizzie tries to drag Josie away but her sister pulls away.

_Please just make it stop._

“Lizzie, let go of me! Penelope and I are talking.”

_Someone just please, please, stop it._

Penelope can physically feel how much her heart hurts and how a pain seared through her scar and she just wants it all to _stop_ , the bickering, the fighting, the hiding, the lying, _everything. Please make it all stop_.

“She has you fooled again?” Lizzie scoffs as she lets go of her sister before looking at Penelope. “Look, Satan, you may have fooled my sister, and even that kiss-ass tribrid, but-“

“Don’t bring Hope into this!” Penelope quickly turns to Lizzie, approaching the blonde as she does. “You know what, I’m so done with you.” She feels all her feelings rising and she can’t stop. “The two of you! I’ve never even tried to get close any of you but you keep pulling me in and pushing me back out and again and again and...again.” And then her voice just drops, all her strength drained by all the fighting. More than three years of fighting against her feelings, against the Merge, against the whole damn world, _against Josie_.

“We’ve been pushing you?” Lizzie retaliates, but Josie pulls her away, Penelope only watching because all this time, Josie still doesn’t know how to fight for herself. But she can’t fight for her anymore.

“I’m really done. So you’re gonna have to listen to what I say tonight, both of you.” Penelope says this almost as a command and surprisingly, the two stay there in silence. Josie meets her eyes, and the green eyes that was full of hope and love that she saw before by the bonfire and earlier when she gave Josie her jacket was gone.

Lizzie was going to retaliate again when Penelope doesn’t speak up immediately but Penelope’s next words shut the twins up.

“And you’re gonna have to talk to your mom after I tell you this.” She looks up the twins whose eyes looked at her in confusion. Their soft spot has always been their mom.

“When I left three years ago, I didn’t just stay in Belgium.”

“We’re not interested, satan.” Lizzie says again, Penelope only sighs.

“Lizzie, just listen to me for once! Please.” Now this takes Lizzie by surprise. Sincerity filled Penelope’s voice and for once she did listen.

“I didn’t stay in Belgium. I worked with your mom. I had to convince her for weeks, but I continued convincing her because I couldn’t just wait to see if somebody can save you. I wasn’t gonna just wait around and watch what happens next.”

The twins’ hearts skips a beat when they realize that Penelope is talking about The Merge. Just when they thought they were getting past that. It has been years since they found out, a year since the cure for it was found, yet it still haunts them to this day.

Josie’s tears fall as she recalls what Penelope told her three years ago, I’m not gonna wait around and watch what happens to you next.

“I didn’t want to leave. I need you to know that, Jojo.” Penelope looks at Josie with sincerity, like she wanted the girl to just listen because she was telling nothing but the truth. The nickname makes Josie’s heart skip a beat again. “I tried so hard to make you stand up for yourself, because if the Merge did happen, you’d have to do that. I loved your selflessness and your desire to be there for others, but you had to fight for yourself too. I did all the things that I did to make you act on things for yourself, make decisions for yourself.

“So I left. Your mom and I, we looked for a cure, we talked to so many witches, and vampires, and werewolves for two years. Then one day, we met this witch, she hated us. She hated us because she believes that the Merge was part of the natural order of things and we were messing with that. She hated us and she-“

Penelope’s hand instinctively reached up to her scar again. The two follow her hand and sees it.

Belgium. That’s what Penelope meant by what she said earlier.

“She hexed me and I was so sure I was gonna die. I was so sure. But the only thing I could think of while I was laying in a pool of my own blood is that I can’t die, because I still had to help Caroline find the cure, I had to. For both of you. Because the whole Merge thing is fucking bullshit and I wasn’t gonna let it run its course.

“And we did.” Penelope smiles, one that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“I was so happy, I can’t even put it into words. I thought then maybe you’d stand up for yourself.” She deadpans at Josie then to Lizzie. “And you’ll stop being a bitch.”

Tears were falling down the twins’ faces. Standing in front of them is the girl they’ve spent so much hating and hurting. Standing in front of them is the girl who saved them. They didn’t know what to say, and they knew they had to listen first.

“But you didn’t.”

Penelope tries to compose herself before continuing. She wipes her tears away, looking up to stop the tears. Josie wanted nothing more than to go to her and wipe her tears away – she wanted to hold Penelope because the sight of her crying hurt like hell, but she knew better than to do so, they had to finish the story.

“I was gonna come back last year and I thought maybe we can get back together, Josie. But I saw you dancing with Hope and you were happy and I wasn’t gonna mess with that.”

She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Josie remembers the day Penelope is talking about. It was the day of the Mystic Falls pageant last year and she was helping Hope practice a dance because past winners were invited in the pageant – it was the day her mom came back with the cure.

“You’ve moved on. But I haven’t, and I had to leave to do that before coming back again. And I thought I did, I really did, that’s why I came back. I thought I’ve moved on but I just love you so much, Jojo.”

Penelope shrugs, and the twins can see just how defeated Penelope was. She’s not even trying to look tough, letting tears fall freely down her cheeks.

“But every day you two just find new ways to hurt me. And I get that I hurt you too, I really do, but I left and stopped bothering you three years ago, I just wish you would stop hitting me too cause I’m so tired.”

She closes her eyes as more tears come streaming down her face.

She puts a hand over her chest. _Please make it stop_. A sharp pain shoots through Penelope’s ribs and abdomen, the stretch of her scar. It’s happening again. It happens when she remembers _that_ night when when she thought she was going to die.

Josie notices it but she can’t move, she’s frozen by everything she’s finding out and Lizzie’s death grip on her hand, asking and giving support. She can’t handle Penelope’s tears and voice and _it hurts_.

“I’m so tired. I’m so so tired. And I thought that when the Merge isn’t a problem anymore, that I wouldn’t see anyone get hurt anymore, but I was fucking wrong again because even just looking at me hurt you, Jo. I see how much I hurt you and I am so so sorry, I really am.”

Penelope meets Josie’s eyes. She was crying. I made her cry again and fuck it hurts. Her gaze to Lizzie. Josie cries once Penelope’s gaze turns away from her.

“And Josie giving a shit about me hurt you, Lizzie. And now Hope is probably getting hurt too because she got too close to me. And I’m just…so fucking tired, my heart can’t take it. I can’t do this anymore.”

Penelope clutches her chest when she says she’s tired. She can feel her legs weakening beneath her but she doesn’t let herself fall. The twins have seen enough of her vulnerability, she wasn’t going to show them more.

 _My heart can’t take it_. The words repeat in Josie’s mind the same way it did before, the same way it did when they were sixteen and Penelope left.

“And I just want you to know that I’m not doing this with an agenda or anything.

“You deserve to know the truth. So here it is. I’m sorry it took so long for me to say it or that I asked your own mother to keep it from you, I really am. You don’t deserve to be lied to like this. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

Penelope smiles sadly again. She lets out a sigh, nods, and turns to leave.

She wanted to run, but she isn’t sure if her legs can handle it.

When Penelope reaches the gardens of the hotel, Josie comes up in front of her and wraps her arms around her.

“Thank you.”  
  
Josie pulls away and presses their foreheads together.

A few moments of silence passes.

“I love you, Jojo.” Penelope says as an explanation for what she did.

Josie pulls away when she hears those three words. Her heart races and she doesn’t know what to say or do.

“I- I’m sorry, Penelope, for everything. And I am so thankful.” She looks down at her feet, not really knowing what the right thing to say is. “But I just- this, us, we can’t happen just yet, I don’t know you anymore.”

Penelope lets out a small laugh. How is this happening? I just told her everything and this is what’s happening?

“It’s not your fault that you can’t love me, Josie, but don’t tell me that you don’t know me, because you do, deep down you know you do.”

Josie is shocked at how stern and vulnerably honest Penelope is being.

“I just fucking told you I loved you, I never did anything to mess your happiness up even if it did mine, and I almost died for you and your sister who has done nothing but throw rocks at me – you know me, but you don’t want admit it.

Because you only ever knew how to love me from afar, Josie.

And knowing me would mean getting close to me.” Penelope laughs like she’s just realized something.

“You only know how to love me from afar.

And I always have to be the one getting closer for you.

But I’m done chasing you.

I’m not saying this in spite or to hurt you.

I’m saying this because I’m tired.

I’m so tired.”

Penelope has said this so much tonight, her voice breaking every time she does, and Josie feels like her heart is breaking along with it.

“I’m so so tired.

And I’m done.”

Penelope smiles that sad smile again and starts to walk away.

Josie couldn’t do anything but just watch her leave. _Again_. And it’s because of her. _Again_.

She wanted to run after Penelope, but she couldn’t, she wouldn’t know what to do when she catches up to her. She knew she would hurt her again, it seems like the only thing she’s been doing lately.

She watches as Penelope reaches the school lawn.

She watches as Hope gets out of the building and sees Penelope.

She watches Hope rushing to Penelope.

She watches as Penelope drops on her knees when Hope wraps her arms around her.

She watches Penelope, loving her from afar.

But this time Penelope wasn’t getting closer to her.

This time someone was getting closer to Penelope to love _her_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof Penelope finally told Josie but they're all a mess
> 
> What do you think about this chapter and what do you wanna see next? (your comments are greatly appreciated and really helps me know what to write next haha)


	10. Run Away with Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie, Lizzie, Hope, and Penelope handles the consequences of the truth finally being out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I haven't updated in so long, I'm so sorryyyy
> 
> But enjoy this chapter and tell me whatcha think in the comments!

There’s a certain kind of pain that comes with the realization that you have made a mistake. Maybe it’s from the guilt that tugs at your heart with every second that passes. Or maybe it’s from looking back and seeing all the decisions you could’ve made and not made for all the things to turn out differently.

 

Regardless of where it stems from, the pain eats at you little by little then all at once, and when’s it has fully consumed you, when you think you are slowly getting out of the hole you dug yourself into, it spits you back out then proceeds to nip at you again.

 

After Penelope told them about why she actually left three years ago, Josie and Lizzie went to find their father to explain everything. They called Caroline too. Their parents explained that they wanted to tell the twins about Penelope’s part in finding the cure, but the green eyed witch wanted to keep it a secret. They had honored the girl’s request, it was the least they can do.

 

It turns out Penelope didn’t intend to keep it a secret at first, but it changed once she arrived back in Salvatore with Caroline. _Why_? All she said was that she didn’t want to ruin Josie’s happiness by coming back or make Josie angry because of her leaving. Clearly, there was something more.

 

 _But I wouldn’t have been mad if I knew_ , Josie said, her parents knew that already. But then again, Josie wasn’t sure what her reaction then would have been.

 

Lizzie stayed with Alaric and on the phone with Caroline after talking, letting their mother comfort her.

 

Josie would’ve stayed too, but as good as Caroline is as a mother, there was only one person who could calm the waves that crashed and drowned Josie’s heart, the same person who she just broke for the thousandth time.

 

So she went back to their room to think in silence.

 

* * *

 

Josie has been looking back at everything that has happened. She’s been looking back to three years of events, wondering if there were any hints that she may have missed.

 

_One day, you will understand why I did everything I did._

 

_I can’t just wait around and watch what happens to you next._

 

_Trust me, Jo, it’s for you._

 

_Maybe you don’t deserve Penelope after all._

 

_Belgium._

 

_Maybe Penelope would’ve told you the truth already.  
_

 

Everything was flooding back to her, words echoing in her mind repeatedly, and she doesn’t know anymore which are actual hints and which ones are just results of her reaching.

 

If she had said that night that she wanted Penelope to stay instead of just telling her to stay, would Penelope have stayed?

 

If she hadn’t fallen down the stairs three years ago, would Penelope have thought that she can be selfish too? That she can fight for herself too?

 

If she hadn’t told Penelope she hated her the night of her 16th birthday, would she have fought beside her the past three years?

 

If she had run after Penelope tonight, would she be the one holding her in her arms instead?

 

If she’d realized that Hope was right, that Lizzie and her have put themselves in a pedestal when it comes to Penelope, would they have the truth earlier? Would Penelope have never chosen to keep it in the first place?

 

So many questions with no answers.

 

She had been crying for hours on end and every time she would calm down, thinking the tears have ran out, they come back again.

 

She closes her eyes and looks back at everything.

 

She closes her eyes and sees green ones staring lovingly at her. So she doesn't open them again until she's ready to let go.

 

* * *

 

Hope had thought that Penelope would be at their room when she went to look for her after leaving the club, which is why she told Josie that she would be the one to look upstairs.

 

She loved Josie and she believed in her goodness and selflessness, but she also has a tendency to hurt Penelope. And tonight might be one of the worst nights for Penelope to be pushed over the edge, she’s just been confronted by Lizzie in front of a crowd – she would’ve wanted to fight back, but she didn’t because it was Lizzie and also because it’s not in Penelope’s nature to make a scene (in a negative light that is), surely she had pent up emotions, and Josie has a way of popping her bubble.

 

Josie is a good person, but Penelope is like her first taste of selfishness – the girl always chased her and loved her despite hurting her – I guess selfishness can be addicting, because Josie got addicted with it when it comes to Penelope.

 

_But not tonight, please, just not tonight._

 

So Hope went up to look for Penelope upstairs. When she doesn’t see her in their room, she tries Jed’s. But she wasn’t there too.

 

Hope looked for her by the indoor pool, the casino, the restaurant, everywhere inside the hotel.

 

_Shit, don’t let Josie find her._

 

Hope gets out of the building and to the hotel garden to look for Penelope – the girl has a thing for nature.

 

But she wasn’t there too.

 

Hope is getting frustrated, where else can Penelope be?

 

She was with Jed, where could Jed have taken her?

 

She remembers the wolf talking about a tennis court before, so she rushes there.

 

And there was Penelope, walking away from the tennis court.

 

_Finally. But where the fuck is Jed?_

 

Hope walks towards her.

 

Blue eyes meet green eyes and she sees that Penelope has been crying.

 

_I’m too late._

 

She rushes to her friend and immediately wraps her arms around her. Penelope breaks down then, her knees crash underneath her and they were both kneeling on the grass.

 

“I told her, Hope.” Penelope tells her in between sobs. She can feel Penelope’s tears soaking down her own shirt.

 

Hope has been telling Penelope to tell Josie the truth since she found out about it. It is the right thing to do anyway, secrets and lies can hurt people, Hope would know. But seeing Penelope like this makes her think otherwise.

 

She never thought she would ever see Penelope Park like this.

 

She never thought she would ever _hold_ Penelope Park like this.

 

Hope looks up to see Josie standing a few meters behind Penelope. She can see that Josie is also upset and she wanted nothing more than to comfort her best friend. Then Lizzie comes to hug Josie and lead her back to hotel and Hope remembers that Josie has both Lizzie and her, but Penelope only has her right now. So she stays with Penelope.

 

They stay there for a few more minutes, which makes Hope's legs cramp, but she stays there anyway. She stays with her arms wrapped around the younger witch, running her hand up and down her back and her hair to try and comfort her, ignoring the pain shooting on her legs.

 

But Penelope has always been one to recover quickly. AFter a few more minutes, she wipes her tears away, thanks Hope, and they go back up their room.

 

After they both change into more comfortable clothes, Penelope stays quiet, sitting on her phone and typing away.

 

> **Penelope** : I’ll do it.
> 
> **Ava** : Great. When can you go?
> 
> **Penelope** : As soon as possible.
> 
> **Ava** : And your classes?
> 
> **Penelope** : I’m advanced in all of them anyway, just talk to Dr. Saltzman about it. I just have some people to talk to before I go.
> 
> **Ava** : Will do.
> 
> **Ava** : By people you mean Josie Saltzman?
> 
> **Penelope** : Text me about what Dr. Saltzman says soon.
> 
> **Penelope** : Bye, Ava.
> 
>  

“Do you want to talk about it?” Hope asks her when Penelope finally puts her phone down.

 

“Not really," she looks up at Hope to see the tribrid's expecting look. "But I guess I have to.”

 

Hope moves to Penelope’s bed, sitting beside her. Penelope lays her head on Hope’s shoulder. Who would’ve thought that they’d be like this in a few months? They never even said more than five words to each other before Josie burned down Penelope's dorm room.

 

“I told them everything.”

 

“I'm guessing they didn't take it that well?”

 

“They cried. I guess I understand why they’d be upset, it wasn't only me who lied anyway, I made their parents lie too.”

 

Penelope looks down at her hands.

 

What she said was true, she can understand why the twins would be upset with her. She should have been honest from the start, being lied to is one of the worst feelings, she knows that from experience, yet she still lied to them.

 

Despite the purity of her intentions, Penelope did make a mistake. A mistake that led to more mistakes and tonight all of them needed to be faced.

 

She should not have kept her knowledge about the Merge a secret, maybe her and Josie could have worked on it together. And lying and silence can be some of the worst things someone can do.

 

She should not have told Josie about the Merge the way she did, it was not her secret to tell and she should not have left knowing the severity of the bomb she has just dropped.

 

She should not have blamed Lizzie for Josie’s selflessness, codependency takes two anyway, and Lizzie loves Josie. Lizzie was good, her desire for Josie to be put first just blinded her to see that.

 

She should not have let jealousy win when she saw Josie dancing with Hope last year and just came out with the truth about it.

 

She should have told Josie right when she came back.

 

But she did all that and she can only focus on the now.

 

And now the whole truth is out.

 

Now Josie still doesn’t love her the way she deserves to be love. It might sound selfish or self-absorbed, but with everything that has happened, it might be the truth.

 

Now she is sitting beside Hope who is willing to listen to everything she has to say.

 

“And then?” Hope asks to signal her to continue.

 

“I walked away and Josie ran after me and she hugged me and said thank you and I told her I love her,” a brief moment passes between them. Hope can see the sadness in Penelope’s eyes as she says the next words. “And she said we can’t happen right now because she doesn’t know me.”

 

Hope reaches out to squeeze Penelope’s hand.

 

“I’m sorry, Pen.”

 

Penelope sighs like she wasn't really hurt at all, like she'd known it was coming yet it still hurt.

 

“No, it’s okay, it’s not her fault that she doesn’t love me.”

 

Hope would have agreed if this was any other situation. It’s true that you can’t force yourself to love someone just because they love you, but the thing is Josie does love Penelope. She knew it even before Josie admitted it to her earlier tonight.

 

“But she does, Penelope.”

 

Penelope turns to face Hope. They’re so close right now, their eyes focused on each others’ only – Hope could not be lying about this.

 

“She told me earlier tonight, when I ran after her out of the club.”

 

“Oh.” Penelope looks back down to her hands, now untangled from Hope’s “Well, it doesn’t really matter right now, I guess. She’s made that clear.”

 

“Pen, come on, just give her a little time, you know Josie.” Hope knows it’s cruel to ask for this from Penelope. The girl has given Josie more time than her heart could handle.

 

“That’s the thing, Hope, I don’t think I know her anymore.” Hope opens her mouth to speak in protest and closes it again.

 

Because maybe Penelope is right, maybe she doesn’t know Josie anymore, because the Josie she knew was selfless, and the Josie she’s seen since she came back is the one that breaks her back, burns her room down, kisses another girl in the kitchen, lets her girlfriend hurt her, and tells her she can’t be with her even though she just told her she loved her despite everything.

 

The thing is you can love someone so much but it still won’t be enough, not when you don’t know them enough and when everything you’re finding out about them hurts you.

 

Love isn't always enough.

 

Maybe not even ever.

 

“And I need time too.” Penelope continues. Right, of course Penelope needs time too.

 

“Okay, so you’ll avoid her? Is that it?”

 

Hope had expected Penelope to say yes, it was the way it always went when someone needs time in a boarding school, when someone needs time when you're a teenager. So she didn't expect what Penelope says next.

 

“Actually, Ava called.” Penelope says. “She heard about what happened at the party with Sarah and thought maybe I needed a break." _Shit, of course Ava found out. I'm going to be in trouble for this too,_ Hope thought. "She’s going to Asia and asked me if I wanted to come. It’s a good way to introduce me to the family business too.”

 

Penelope has never been a runner. She always faced her problems and tackled them headstrong. It was just the way it is. But it seems to be different when it comes to Josie since they broke up. She always ends up running away from the rejection that comes with her telling Josie how much she loves her and Josie breaking her heart.

 

“Pen, come on, don’t run away from this.”

 

“I’m not running away, I’m taking some time for myself.”

 

_Maybe Penelope was right, maybe this isn't running away._

 

“Okay. But wait, family business? In Asia?”

 

Penelope shrugs.

 

“Yeah, some partnerships here and there.”

 

“What are you? Like some business tycoons?” Penelope doesn’t reply. “Whatever. We’ll talk about this next time, this is besides the point right now. Running and facing this alone would be worse, Park, _the lonely tribrid_ would know.”

 

Penelope chuckles at Hope calling herself _the lonely tribrid_ , an insult she always uses with her. Then she faces Hope, a sincere look plastered on her face.

 

“Run away with me then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's that...
> 
> Pls comment what u think, I'm a sucker for validation lol


	11. Say Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hooe gives Penelope her answer
> 
> Josie and Penelope talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the last part of this is kinda inspired by the song "Say Something" by Matilda hence the title

"Run away with me then."

  
Penelope's offer hangs in the air like a mistletoe no one can reach during the holidays so they just leave it there.

  
Her green eyes looked at Hope's blue ones expectantly.

  
Hope wanted to say yes. Penelope was giving her an opportunity to be away from the Salvatore Boarding School for some time, and not in a way like they were right now where memories of everything she has lost and the world she has been so used to still wrapped around her.

  
Penelope wanted her to say yes too. Hope was right anyway, it wasn't good to face this alone, she knows that from facing it alone for three years. Yes, Ava would be there, but Ava doesn't know Josie, and Ava never saw how Josie and her were before everything fell apart. Penelope needed Hope to stand by her right now because she’s not sure if she’s strong enough to face it alone anymore. 

Correction: she didn't _want_ to face it alone anymore. 

  
Hope was biting the inside of her mouth which Penelope has learned the tribrid does when she’s thinking seriously about something.

  
“Cat got your tongue?” Penelope says with a chuckle, earning her an eyeroll from Hope. 

  
Hope wanted to take the opportunity to escape the stress of the supernatural world that Penelope was offering, but doing so immediately might just be allowing Penelope to escape her problems. And what kind of friend would she be if she allowed Penelope to do that?

  
"I'd love to," Hope replies and Penelope's eyes light up. "But on one condition."

  
Penelope frowns. She was offering to take Hope away from this messy supernatural world yet she was still the one who has to follow her conditions.

  
"I'm not gonna kiss you again," Penelope says smugly and Hope hits her in retaliation  

 

"Idiot! I meant you have to be sure you're not leaving any loose ends first." Penelope was silenced by that. "It's just a week away, but we both know that's a long time for problems to be hanging on your head."

  
Penelope glares at Hope. She wanted to hit her or come back with a banter because Hope was right _again_. Penelope hates it when she’s not the one who’s right.

  
"Well, I'm not gonna go to the twins' room to get myself set on fire or be butchered by Saltzman barbie again."

  
Penelope stands up to get water. She realizes she hasn't eaten anything since before they left for the bar earlier tonight, but the only thing she was willing to get now was the water in their mini fridge.

  
"And I’m not gonna be you chauffeur to Asia if you’re  stubborn." Hope crosses her arms even though Penelope had her back on her. "I'm not saying you should march to their room, Pen, I'm just saying that if the opportunity arises for you to have a better conversation with the twins again, you should take it. Especially Josie."

  
Hope doesn't know why she said that. She knew that it might take some time for any of the Saltzman twins to get themselves together enough to talk to Penelope. It has just always been the situation when it comes to the three. And Penelope shouldn’t be the one to make the first move again. She’s done enough of that. 

  
Penelope looks back at Hope who was sitting on the end of her bed. She looked tired, just as Penelope knows she does too, and she feels sorry for bringing all these unto Hope. The tribrid has been helping her too much lately she thinks she’s being a burden now.

 

"I don't have anything else to say, Hope." 

 

Penelope deadpans at Hope, wishing she would just let it go. 

 

"Bullshit." Hope raises an eyebrow at her. They were at a stare-down now — two personalities clashing in a fight to see who's going to stand down. "You  _always_ have something to say."

 

"Not this time."

 

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Penelope closes her eyes as an attempt to forget about this day. She wanted to leave New Orleans already. Being stuck in the Salvatore School sounded better than being cooped up in this hotel that was too cheery for her liking. She wanted everything to be okay. She wanted Hope to come with her without admitting that her conditions were appropriate because Hope was right again and she doesn't know if she has the strength to do the right thing just yet.

  
She was snapped out of her daze when they hear three knocks on their door and remembers that she forgot to tell Jed about what happened. He must be worried now.

 

She walks towards the door, ready to spill everything again but onto her cousin. 

  
But when Penelope opens the door, a different set of brown eyes meet her.

  
The brown eyes that she fell in love with.

  
The brown eyes that she saw staring back at her in her dreams all the time.

  
Those damn brown eyes.

  
"Hi," Josie breathes out.

  
Penelope doesn't say anything.

  
_Why is she here?_

  
She wanted Josie close to her more than anything, but that has proven to be dangerous for both of them time and time again.

  
"I came to bring this back." Josie holds out her jacket to her. _Right_ , she had given Josie her jacket tonight. She takes it slowly, still dazed by the fact that Josie was in front of her again, confused by how they can be like this right now after what just happened tonight.

  
"Hey, Pen, who's-" Hope says as she walks towards the door. She stops when she sees who came. "Josie, hi."

  
Josie looks at her like with a hint of sadness behind her eyes. Hope wanted to rip her hair out because once again, she’s in the middle of the drama between her two best friends who are to idiotic to fix their shit.

 

She wanted to take Penelope away from Josie because she might hurt her again. 

 

But she also wanted them to talk calmly, with more control of their emotions.

 

She wanted to hug Josie and comfort her, surely the brunette's heart is heavy right now. 

 

But Penelope was there and she didn't want to seem like she's picking sides. 

  
"Hey, Hope."

  
They stand there in silence. Penelope wanted to disappear.

  
_Fuck, you've shed enough tears for tonight_ , she tries to remind herself.

  
Josie stood frozen there too. She wanted to talk to Penelope, but Penelope wouldn't even look her in the eyes. _The walls were back up._

  
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Josie asks Hope instead and the redhead follows her out immediately.

  
When Hope closes the door, leaving Penelope to retreat back to the comfort of her bed, she immediately pulls Josie into a hug.

  
"I'm sorry, I should have been there for you too." Hope whispers into the taller girl's hair. She squeezes Josie to comfort her. 

  
"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for." Josie says when they pull away. "But Hope, I'm so scared."

  
Hope didn't even need Josie to say this, she can already see it in the siphon's eyes.

  
"Of what, Jo?"

  
"That I've ruined everything with Penelope."

  
Hope sighs. She has to tell Josie the truth.

  
"You have."

  
Josie looks at her in shock. She expected her best friend to tell her that she hasn't ruined everything, that it wasn't as bad as she thinks.

  
"You screwed up, Jo. You broke her heart. _Again_. But you can also fix it, Jo." Hope reaches out her hand to hold Josie's. "But you have to talk to her."

  
Josie doesn’t know how to feel. _When did Hope Mikaelson become an expert on Penelope Park?_

  
"I know."

  
"It doesn't have to be now, it's-"

  
"It has to be." Josie says this so firmly that Hope gets confused. _Was Josie on a tight schedule too? She isn't leaving like Penelope too, is she?_ But then again, this was the Josie she wanted to see, the Josie she needed her best friend to be so less people would get hurt, especially not Penelope again. "It has to be now. I can't leave her hanging anymore, and I fall every time she does too so it has to be now. Do you think she'll talk to me?"

  
Josie looks so scared and Hope gives her a reassuring smile.

  
"I think you should find out."

  
Hope gestures to the door and Josie knows she really has to do it now.

 

* * *

 

  
Penelope is left struck by everything again. Josie was so close to her again yet, in the same but different way.

  
_And now she wants to talk to Hope?_

 

_Why Hope?_

 

_Why not me?_

 

_Right, I'm not the best friend. I'm not anything right now._

 

Penelope tries to clear her head of her thoughts about Josie but she isn't given much time when she opens her eyes and sees the brunette standing by the end of her bed.

  
"Can we talk?"

  
_Shit, is this a hallucination?_

  
"Penelope, please."

  
_Shit, it's not._

  
"Just a few minutes."

  
_Fuck, it's really her. Shit, did Hope put her up to this? It was the condition anyway, so-_

  
"Pen."

  
"Right, yeah, okay, yeah, we can talk."

  
Josie smiles a little at that.

  
"I'll be in Jed and MG's." Hope says before leaving the two to themselves.

 

Josie sits on Hope's bed. She doesn't really know where to start. She doesn't want to say the wrong thing again, she can't do that to Penelope again.

  
"So..." Penelope trails off. She was staring straight at Josie and the taller girl feels like she is getting scrutinized by Penelope's beautiful green eyes.

  
"I wanted to say thank you for-"

  
"You already said that." Penelope knew it came out harsh, but she's been cradling Josie for so long that the other girl should know she didn't any of the segways anymore.

  
"Right." Josie clears her throat as if to find courage to say what she's about to say. "What I said earlier, about me not knowing you, I was wrong. I know how great you are, Penelope, you might be the best person I know."

  
Penelope's heart skips a beat. She can't let Josie back in like this again, she had to take care of herself too.

  
"But I was scared to accept that the best person I know is the same one who was willing to leave me. But now I know why you did that and I just didn't know how to say what I felt and-"

  
"So you just hurt me instead?" Penelope tilts her head in question. If her words didn't only attack like daggers, Josie would have found the gesture adorable.

  
"Yes, it was a selfish move, I know, but I didn't know how to handle what I was feeling at the time."

  
"And you do now?"

  
Penelope was challenging her, Josie realizes. She was challenging her to pour out everything now and if it meant getting Penelope's forgiveness, Josie was willing to do it.

  
"Yes."

  
"How are you going to do that?"

  
"Let's get to know each other again, Pen. Not with any agenda behind it or anything, but just so you won't hate me anymore."

  
Penelope didn't expect this. She expected Josie to say that she would prove she's sorry or that she'll try to be more considerate or she'll give Penelope space, but not this. Not Josie asking to get to know her or asking her not to hate her.

 

But  _not with any agenda?_ _What's that supposed to mean? It's not like we can be friends. We can't._ P

  
"I don't hate you, Josie."

  
Penelope says it blandly and Josie almost cries.

  
Because the Penelope she knew from before would have told her this with the softest look and the sincerest voice and her nickname. Jojo. She never knew she can miss a nickname as much as she does now.

  
So she just nods.

  
"What do you  mean by  _not with any agenda_?"

 

"I mean maybe we can just get to know each other not necessarily to date again or anything but to be friends again or-" 

 

"Josie, we were never really just friends."

 

Right. Penelope is right. 

 

"Well then, let's just get to know each other again, Pen, please?"

 

Penelope sighs.  _This should be the last time. This is the last time._

 

"Okay." 

  
Josie gets so excited by this that she doesn't even think before saying her next words.

  
"Really? I'll pick you up tomorrow at 10 am here. "

  
Penelope chuckles at the sudden spike in Josie's cheerfulness.

  
"Are you asking me out on a date already, Saltzman?"

  
She just had to lighten up the mood.

  
Josie knew Penelope expected her to be shocked by this, so she doesn't let up.

  
"I guess you still haven't lost your confidence, Penelope. Maybe getting to know you won't be that hard after all."

  
"You think you know me already then?"

  
Another attempt at flustering Josie.

  
"I'd like to think I know the people in my heart."

  
Now Penelope is flustered. She looks at Josie like a deer in front of headlights for a few seconds before regaining composure.

  
How they go from tearing each other's hearts out from their chests to being friendly in a matter of a few hours, no one knows, it was just the way they were.

  
"I'll see you then, Josie."

  
She shoots the taller girl her signature smirk.

  
Josie fights the urge to stare and smirks back.

  
"Wear something casual." Josie smirks back before leaving the room.

  
Penelope plops back on her bed when she hears the door close and gets her phone.

 

>   
>  **Muggle** : You're coming to the trip now.
> 
>  

* * *

 

  
Hope immediately goes back to the hotel room her and Penelope shares once she receives the text.

  
_You’re coming to the trip now._

  
It only meant one thing: _Penelope and Josie has talked without killing each other._

  
She was relieved by this. Maybe things can go smoothly again for the two. Not to be self-centered but the chaos between the ex-girlfriends have affected her too and she would love some peace and quiet now.

  
But when Penelope tells her that her and Josie are meeting the next morning, Hope can’t help but feel a little bothered. They seem to be doing good. _Too good_. _How can they can go from tearing each others’ hearts out to hanging out like nothing happened in a matter of a few hours?_

  
“Are you sure about this?” She’d asked Penelope thrice now, but the raven-haired witch insisted that yes, she was sure again and again.

  
“You really don’t have to worry about it, mutt. Plus Dr. Saltzman has an itinerary for today, you’d find someone to hang out with, maybe Jed or MG.”

  
Hope throws a pillow at Penelope. Although she was right, Hope wasn’t really close to anyone else in the school but Penelope and Josie, though Jed and MG can suffice.

  
And as much as Penelope didn’t want to admit it, she didn’t want Hope to feel alone when she was the one who dragged her here.

  
“Just don’t kill each other alright?”

  
“We won’t.”

  
“Oh and what about Dr. Saltzman?”

  
Penelope snickers at Hope’s question.

  
“Did you really just ask me that?”

  
The two didn’t really care about the headmaster’s rules, that was another one of their similarities.

  
“Yeah, I don’t know either. Oh, but Josie.”

  
“It was her plan, Hope, that’s her problem.”

  
Now that takes Hope by surprise. The Penelope she knew before tonight would have regarded how Josie could get in trouble for this. Maybe the truth didn’t just open the twins’ eyes, maybe Penelope’s too.

 

* * *

 

 

> **Hope** : so you’re taking Penelope out today?
> 
> **Josie** : yeah
> 
> **Hope** : I’m glad u guys are doing great but don’t u think it’s a bit too fast for u guys to be spending a whole day together?
> 
> **Josie** : tbh it might be
> 
> **Josie** : but it’s penelope and I, we’ll be fine
> 
> **Hope** : that’s the thing jo, it’s pen and you
> 
> **Josie:** what’s that supposed to mean?
> 
> **Hope:** nothing
> 
> **Hope:** don’t kill each other okay?
> 
> **Josie** : yes. u can be a good moral compass, do u know that? 
> 
> **Hope** : ha ha whatever! good luck!
> 
> **Josie:** thanks!!

 

* * *

 

Lizzie has left with the rest of the students about two hours ago, which meant Josie only has a few more minutes before she has to pick Penelope up.

  
If she were being honest, she didn’t know what she was thinking when she proposed picking Penelope up today, but she did and she couldn’t back out anymore. So she went to her dad after talking to Penelope last night and asked him to let them take the day off. Alaric thought it was a risky idea at first, letting Josie and her feelings out with Penelope for the day, but the headmaster has a soft spot for his daughters.

  
Then Josie told Lizzie about her plan. The blonde Saltzman wished her luck. Josie felt refreshed by how fast her twin let her get near Penelope, although she expected this after knowing everything that they know now. One day, she’d like Lizzie and Penelope to be friends too.

  
She’s spent the past few hours tossing and turning in her bed, thinking of what Penelope and her can do for the day.

  
But she comes up with _nothing_.

  
Nothing felt enough and nothing felt like the right thing to do.

  
Because to be honest, all she wanted to do was talk to Penelope.

  
Her phone starts to buzz at 9:55 am. She set an alarm for when she had to pick Penelope up, careful to be as good as she can be today.

  
When she reaches Penelope’s door and the witch opens the door, Josie is surprised that the other girl still wasn’t ready.

  
Not that she looked bad or anything, but Penelope always insisted on dressing well when going outside. Even when they were just going to go get midnight snacks in the kitchen before (when they were dating), Penelope would insist on changing into something more ’presentable’ so as not to ruin her ‘reputation.’

  
So Penelope standing in front of her in dolphin shorts, a loose Salvatore shirt, and her eyeglasses was enough for Josie to know that Penelope wasn’t ready yet. Although she looked so damn cute with the outfit and the glasses was a plus.

  
This made her a little disappointed. Punctuality isn’t really Penelope’s forte (she says it’s essential to be fashionably late, though it’s just that she loses track of time a lot), but she was always on time when it comes to Josie.

  
Keyword: _was_.

  
So that’s one new thing.

  
“Sorry, I’m gonna get ready, I just got caught up in some school work. Come in though.” Penelope gestures for her to enter before rummaging through her bag for an outfit.

  
“Oh it’s fine.” Josie says, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice that one of the first things she learns about the new Penelope is not in her favor.

  
She takes a seat on Hope’s bed and watches Penelope scan through her clothes. Although Josie couldn’t help but notice the short stack of school notes on Penelope’s bed. Penelope has always been an industrious student, but not one to take her work on vacation even though this was a school trip.

  
“Actually, you can just not change.” Josie pipes up, making Penelope stop what she was doing.

  
“I’m not going out looking like this, Jo. I have-“

  
“A reputation to uphold, yes, I remember.” Josie says. “But I was thinking maybe we could stay in first.”

  
Penelope narrows her eyes at her.

  
“I’m not really a take-you-home-on-the-first-date kind of girl, Josie, but-“

  
“Oh, shut up.” She rolls her eyes which gains a chuckle from Penelope. “I was just thinking maybe we can talk first. Like a personal slam book but we say our answers out loud. Get to know each other that way.”

  
Penelope laughs at her and she unconsciously pouts.

  
“I’m sorry, that’s just so dorky. But okay, your call, I guess.”

  
Penelope puts the clothes she was holding back into her luggage and sits cross-legged on her bed.

  
“Let’s do it then.”

  
“Okay, I’ll search questions and you do too.” Josie says before pulling out her phone and Penelope obliges.

  
Maybe this day would be fine.

 

* * *

 

Penelope isn’t sure if this is a good idea.

  
Josie and her staying in and being like this _may_ not be a good idea.

  
Scratch that, she’s _sure_ that this isn’t a good idea.

  
Staying in and answering stupid random questions with the person you’re in love with but is not in love with you might never be a good idea.

  
Especially not when you’re sitting on the floor of a hotel room with a beautiful view staring at you through the window, your knees barely touching the other’s.

  
But she was here right now and Josie’s eyes looked so bright with hope that this would go well that she cannot back out anymore.

  
_Maybe one last time._

  
She tells herself that this is the last time she’ll ever let Josie in this easy again. After tying this loose end, she’ll guard herself again, put herself first.

  
“Full name.” Josie starts.

“You already know this.” Josie rolls her eyes and groans.

“Just answer.”

“Fine, Penelope Park.”

“Josette Saltzman.”

“Favorite color.”

“Yellow.”

“Blue.” It used to be black, Josie thought.

“Celebrity crush.”

“Lily Collins.”

“Camila Cabello.”

  
The two go back and forth with their questions, inserting short stories behind them every now and then. They don’t realize they’ve been there for more than two hours learning new and random things about each other.

  
“How many tattoos do you have?” Penelope asks.

  
“None.”

  
“Three.”

  
“Really?” Josie asks, her eyes wide at Penelope. She finally got tattoos, she always wanted one.

  
“Yeah.” Penelope says it like it was nothing and Josie feels a pang in her chest. They used to talk about how Josie would be the first one to see Penelope’s tattoo if she ever got one, maybe she can even come with her if she gets one. But now circumstances have changed. “You wanna see one?”

  
Maybe they haven’t changed that much.

  
“Sure.”

  
Penelope moves her hair away from her face, tucking the left side and exposing her left ear. Josie leans forward and notices that she got two new piercings too.

  
Josie sees the tattoo. It was single line drawing of a small rose that ran across the helix of Penelope’s left ear. It was delicate and elegant at the same time. Like Penelope during their quiet nights before. Like the Penelope she loved...or loves. 

  
“It’s a rose, my dad always-“

  
“Brought you roses.” Josie finishes the sentence. They always did that before, finish each other’s sentences, because they knew each other enough to do so. It seemed so natural none of them even notice that they were doing it again. “It’s so pretty, Pen.”

  
“Thank you.” Penelope says with a wide grin once Josie sits back straight again. She looked so proud of the tattoo and the fact that someone just called it pretty.

  
“Did you get it from Mo?”

  
“Yeah!” Penelope exclaims like an excited child when Josie mentions the name of her favorite tattoo artist. “He’s so cool, you know. And his artistry is really…” Penelope makes the okay sign with her hand and Josie smiles.

 

“That your first one?”

  
“Yeah.”

  
Josie can’t help but smile at the girl in front of her. She imagines Penelope sitting excitedly in front of one of her favorite tattoo artists that she’s been following online for years, getting a tattoo dedicated to her father who she adored.

  
“I never thought your first one would be a flower.”

  
“Yeah, well, a lot of things have changed.” Penelope says casually, but it was nothing but casual, both of them knew that.

  
Josie’s smile fades into a small longing one.

  
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  
They weren’t talking about the tattoo anymore, they shouldn’t be. They were talking about the elephant in the room that they had been trying to avoid.

  
“Josie.” Penelope says it like a warning, but Josie won’t back down. They needed to let everything out now if they want to be better with each other.

  
“It’s my turn to ask isn’t it?”

  
Penelope stares at her, calculating her. Then she sighs.

 

 _Fuck it,_ Penelope thinks.  _She wants answers? She'll get them._

  
“I wanted you to be stronger, Josie, not that you weren’t strong, but you had to be stronger, you had to learn to stand up for yourself if the Merge ever needed to happen then. And I wanted you to be that way without having to coerce you to be like that. Your growth should come from within you, from what you want, from who you are, not from others telling you to be a certain way.”

  
“You could’ve done that without breaking up with me, without telling me that you didn’t love me anymore.”

  
“I _never_ said I didn’t love you anymore.”

  
Josie thinks back to everything again. It’s true, Penelope never actually said it out loud, but it’s how she felt.

  
“But you still broke up with me.”

  
“You weren’t listening to me, Jojo.” Josie has been trying to hold herself together since she asked the question and the nickname isn’t doing her any favors. “You only saw me asking you to put yourself first as me wanting you all to yourself. I did want you for me, Jo, but now in a way that shelters you from the world. And with how occupied you were with your family and with school, I knew you were spread too thin for me to ask for you to be just mine. I had to let you go so you’d have time for yourself. And you hating me made you do things for yourself, it made you take action based on your own feelings. If I had to let you go for you to do that, I was going to do it.”

  
Josie stares at her. Penelope Park, the girl she spent the last four years trying to hate but couldn’t. She did everything on purpose. She did everything for Josie.

  
“I wish I knew.”

  
Penelope gives her a small smile. There it was, the look Josie has been searching for.

  
“I should have handled it better, I know that now. I’m sorry. My turn, how many exes have you had?”

  
Penelope asked to lighten up the mood. It was typical of her to do this. But she also asked it in hopes that Josie would say just one, just her. She was Josie’s first girlfriend and she wanted to know if three years had made the girl fall for another person.

 

Josie knows this, knows Penelope trying to know more because she just can't handle not knowing.

  
“Two.”

  
Penelope tries to seem unfazed but her heart is racing at a really dangerous rate and she can’t even fathom why she wanted to know this in the first place.  _So she had someone when I was literally fighting demons for her. No, she doesnt owe you anything, shh,_ Penelope thinks to herself  

  
“He was a senior last year, it was a short term thing though, nothing serious.”

  
“You don’t have to explain, Josie.”

  
But Josie _wanted_ to explain. She wanted Penelope to know that despite her being gone for three years, Josie didn’t get in a serious relationship, not like theirs, because no one was like her.

  
“Mom says you were going to come back and tell me last year, why didn’t you?”

  
“I chickened out, I guess.”

  
Penelope shrugs and Josie scoffs.

  
“I never pegged you for a quitter, Park.”

  
Josie adds ‘Park’ as a challenge for Penelope. The green-eyed witch always used the fact that she is a Park to cement why she was the way she was — strong, witty, intelligent, beautiful.

  
“Never until you, Saltzman.”

  
“You have to answer honestly, you know?”

  
“Fine.” Penelope rolls her eyes. She really didn’t want to go deeper into this, but she’s leaving and she’s promised Hope to finally tie all loose ends. “I thought that if I came back, I can tell you the truth and we can get back together, you know? But then I saw you dancing with Hope and I knew you used to like her with the pens and all and you were so happy, Jo. You’ve moved on. And me coming back might burn your happiness to the ground again so I thought I needed time to accept that my plan wasn’t gonna work out perfectly for me, I had to move on.”

  
“You were jealous of Hope?” Josie asked, making Penelope roll her eyes. She didn’t want to say it out loud. “I had a crush on her when I was 12!”

  
“It’s not your turn to ask anymore.”

  
“Game’s over, Pen.”

  
“Fine.” Penelope scoffs and stands up. She goes to the mini fridge to avoid being stared down by Josie.

  
“I haven’t moved on then.” Josie says so quietly Penelope almost misses it. She turns around to face her. “I don’t think I have even now.”

  
Josie looks at her expectantly but Penelope stays quiet. She walks back to sit in front Josie, her eyebrows scrunched in deep thought.

“Say something.” Josie reaches out her hand to squeeze Penelope’s. Penelope squeezes her hand too before letting go.

  
“I don’t think I have either, Jojo.” Penelope smiles at her and walks back to her bed. This is it, Josie thought. Maybe they can go back to the way it was before again.

  
But Penelope speaks again.

  
“But you were right last night. I don’t think we know each other enough for all this to happen again.” Penelope gestures to the two of them. “I’ve been someone else since the last time we held hands and you said _say something_.”

  
Josie remembers what Penelope is talking about. It was the night of their break up.

 

Penelope had been uncharacteristically quiet that whole day and Josie asked her what was wrong. Penelope didn’t answer, completely way in her thoughts. Josie squeezed her hand then and asked her to say something.

  
“And I guess you’re someone else too.”

  
“So what happens then?”

  
“We’re getting to know each other aren’t we?”

  
“Okay.” Josie says. A few moments of silence passes between them. “Penelope, you know I love you, right?”

  
Penelope sighs again.

  
“I didn’t, actually. You always said you hated me.”

  
This takes Josie by surprise. The Penelope before wouldn’t have said it like that knowing it might hurt her, because it does.

  
“Well I do.”

  
“And you know I love you, I’ve never fallen short of reminding you that.” Penelope says. Another moment of silence passes. “I’m leaving.”

  
“What?” Josie exclaims a little too loudly. “Why? When?”

  
“Ava wanted me to go on a business trip with her.”

  
“Can you stay here a bit longer, please?”

  
“I have to go, Jo. I’m gonna come back anyway  
Everything here is just getting too much again.”

  
“So you’re choosing to run again?”

  
Josie asks as a challenge to Penelope. _Maybe_ that can get her to stay.

 

Penelope gives her a small smile. 

  
“I’m choosing myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henelope? Posie? Idk anymore also asdfgjhkkl
> 
> Btw if you guys have any song suggestions that could inspire chapters for this fic, pls comment them below haha I really like using songs as bgs for what's next


	12. See you around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So school has taken alllll my time these past few days, hence why I haven't updated huhu but alas here's a new chapter for y'all even tho it's so short and it's kinda rushed sksksks

If there was one thing that could describe Penelope and Josie’s relationship, it is that it is full of ironies.

Penelope wasn’t actually the selfish and Josie wasn’t actually the selfless.

They loved each other yet they can’t be together.

Penelope kept telling Josie to choose herself, yet in the end, it was her who needed to choose herself.

The last one, Josie was fully acknowledging and supporting.

“I’m happy for you, Pen.”

She smiles at Penelope — a sincere one that made her eyes look so soft that Penelope wanted to reach out to her, but she doesn’t.

Because if she reached out to Josie now, she wouldn’t know how to pull back again. So she works up the courage to just smile back, nod, and say a shy “thank you.”

Much to her relief, Josie stands up and walks towards the small table by the entrance of the room. She’d left her bag there and Penelope figured she might be leaving.

“Before you leave though, maybe we should binge watch your favorite movies first?”

“Interstellar? Justice League?”

Josie laughs at her before whipping out her ipad from her bag and facing her.

“Nice try, Pen. But we both know your inner inner softie’s favorite movies are studio ghibli movies.”

Penelope narrows her eyes at Josie.

“You’re not gonna use that to ruin my reputation, are you? Because those animations are the bomb and people are just gonna love me more.”

Josie’s heart flutters at Penelope’s demeanor. This was the Penelope she fell for, although now knows that she loves all the versions of Penelope that exists.

And at that moment she wanted to reply _, I don’t know how **I** can love you more though. I don't know if my heart can love you any more before it explodes. _

But she doesn’t.

Instead, Josie sits on Penelope’s bed and sets up the movie. She puts on “My Neighbor Totoro” before looking over to Penelope and patting the space next to her.

Penelope hesitates for a second. This was a bad idea, she’ll get burned if she approaches this whole thing with Josie too fast.

But Josie was sitting on her bed with a expectant smile on her face and the innocent promise of enjoying one of her favorite movies with her and Penelope just can’t resist. 

 

* * *

 

 

Josie falls asleep first. Penelope had expected this though, because she knew she can’t fall asleep watching any studio ghibli movie, they were just too good for her to sleep on.

Josie was curled up beside her, her head resting just slightly on Penelope.

The raven haired witch can’t help but stare at the girl beside her, the girl she’ll do anything for.

She takes her eyes away from Josie the moment she remembers that they weren’t together anymore.

Almost four years later and she still forgets.

Maybe that’s just how it is when you’re in love with someone who you can’t be with anymore.

There’s another irony of their relationship for you: they’ve been pining for each other four years after their one year relationship.

Penelope checks the time.

**_2:44 am_ **

When she sees this, she immediately grows worried as to why Hope wasn’t back in their room yet, so she texts the tribrid.

 

> **Muggle** : Where are you?
> 
> **Mutt** : At Jed and MG’s. Is it safe to come back now?
> 
> **Muggle** : Of course it is. Idiot.
> 
> **Mutt** : hey I just didn’t wanna see rated r stuff in irl
> 
> **Muggle** : You’re not even funny.

Not even five minutes later, Penelope hears someone come in and she meets Hope’s questioning eyes.

“I thought it was safe to come back? Josie’s still here!” Hope whispers so as not to wake up Josie.

“It’s not like we’re cuddling or something. I needed you back here-“

“Before you do something stupid.” Hope rolls her eyes as she finishes Penelope’s sentence.

Penelope lets Hope win this one because she is right.

She wanted – needed – Hope back here before she says or does anything stupid. God knows she has a streak when it comes to that and Josie.

They bicker a little more before Hope changes and heads to her own bed.

When she does, she is surprised when Penelope crawls in bed beside her.

“What do you think you’re doing? If this is some ploy to make Josie jealous I-“

“Oh, hush, Hope. I told you I don’t wanna do anything stupid. So I’m staying here till morning before Jojo wakes up then I’ll go back there.”

Hope narrows her eyes at her and tilts her head.

“Jojo. Hmm. Does it hurt when you say that?”

This earns her a smack on her arm from Penelope. It was a good thing that Josie wasn’t woken up by their bickering.

But the stars may not be fully on the best friends side.

Because Josie wakes up before them, before Penelope can go back to bed beside her and not let her find the two cuddling – not that they did it on purpose, it was by instinct once they fell asleep.

Josie feels her heart shake when she notices that Penelope wasn’t beside her. She was scared that the girl had already ran off to wherever her sister was taking her.

And then Josie feels her heart crumble when she sees Penelope wrapped by Hope’s arms. They both looked so peaceful, so at ease, and she can’t help but feel jealous of her own best friend who, if she were to be completely honest, she wanted to strangle right now.

But she doesn’t.

Of course she doesn’t.

Instead she gets up, takes her ipad, and turns to leave.

Once she reaches the hallway, she tries to fight her tears from falling as she texts Penelope.

> **Josie Saltzman:** Thank you for giving me a chance. Last night was great. See you around.

See you around.

She doesn’t know why it hurts to tell Penelope that.

Or maybe she does.

Because she doesn’t wanna just see Penelope around.

She wanted to Penelope to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up. She wants Penelope beside her as she’s getting breakfast or in front of her while having dinner. She wanted Penelope to be the last person she sees before falling asleep.

But she can’t.

So she’ll just see her around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be back with another chapter soon, I swear, just gotta get school fully off my back ☹️🤘
> 
> And please leave comments and kudos, I'm a sucker for positive reinforcement and knowing what y'all think
> 
> Also, question: when you guys say phosie, does that mean y'all wanted them to be polygamous? I'm dumb and I'm:confused


	13. It's Time

Waffles.

Those are the first thing Penelope sees when she wakes up and looks over at the bedside table in the middle of hers and Hope’s bed.

There was a tray with a stack of waffles, a mug of steaming hot chocolate, and mangoes sitting on the table.

A small smile creeps into her lips as she untangles herself from Hope, not even bothered by the thought that Josie might’ve seen them like that.

She sits up and inspects the tray. She sees a piece of paper folded nicely by the hot chocolate, her name written in cursive in front of it.

She knows this was from Josie from the messy yet elegant handwriting and the waffles and the mangoes – Josie knew how much she loves waffles and mangoes.

She opens the note but she can’t quite read it.

Then she hears someone call out her name.

“Pen.”

But no one was in the room except for her and Hope, and the latter was still sleeping soundly beside her.

“Penelope.”

That’s when she sees a shadow walking from the door.

“Pen!”

The loud voice makes her sit up so fast she thinks she’s had a whiplash.

She looks up and sees Hope standing over her at the side of the bed, her hands on her hips and her lips forming the most condescending smile she’s ever seen.

“You were having a wet dream weren’t you? You were smiling in your sleep, it was gross.”

Penelope’s eyes were so wide that she looks like a deer caught by headlights.

“No! I was just…” but she looks over at the bedside table and there was no tray.

 

No waffles.

 

Not hot chocolate.

 

No mangoes.

 

And no Josie on her bed too.

 

She mentally curses at herself for thinking that she would even wake up early enough to go back to her bed. And for leaving her bed in the first place – even though that really is better than ‘accidentally’ cuddling with Josie and waking up with her arms empty again, just like when they were still together.

“Josie left?”

“Yep.” Hope says, popping the ‘p’ in the end. She turns around and starts to fix her stuff. Her tone is more serious now. “Pen, if you’re using me to make Josie jealous, I-“

“No! Oh my god no, Hope. I would never do that, that’s low...even though Josie did like it when I went low before, I-“

“Eww! Eww! Oh my god, tmi!”

Hope screams as she flails her arms around to stop Penelope.

“Shut up, it’s not like you’re eight, you’re-“ Penelope stops as before glaring at Hope. “See, now you made me forget my point!”

“Me? Or your horny self that-“

“Anywayyy,” Penelope says, holding up a finger to silence Hope. “I’m not using you to make Josie jealous, that’s low and I’d never do that to you.”

Hope breathes a sigh of relief as she questions herself why she even thought of that in the first place. Penelope wasn’t the type of person to use other people.

“Okay but now Josie might be mad at me with you cuddling me while sleeping. Even though I can’t blame you, I’m irresistible.”

“Pshh. One, eww? And two, she’s not mad at you, alright? She’s your best friend. Plus we’re not even together.”

“How about that?” Hope asks curiously with her head tilted to the side.

“Huh?”

“How about that? When you say _you’re not together anymore,_ does it hurt when you say it?” Hope makes air quotation signs to further annoy Penelope.

“Fuck you, mutt!” Penelope throws a pillow at Hope before they burst out laughing.

When they finally calm down, the two packed their bags as they prepare to go back home.

 

* * *

 

 

Hope and Penelope are thirteen minutes late, not that anyone was counting. Well, Josie was, of course.

She’s been waiting for the two to get the down since she got down to the lobby thirty minutes before they were required to be there. She’s wanted to see Penelope again since she left their room this morning and she just wants to talk to someone about everything she’s feeling.

But she can’t even talk to Hope about it because Hope was tangled with Penelope all the time.

And she also didn’t want to talk to Lizzie about it because despite her sister being more supportive and understanding lately, god bless her heart, she’s not the best at talking about her and Penelope’s relationship.

So she’s sitting in the lobby waiting for the roommates to get down. Well, everyone was waiting for them because they’re the only ones who were not there yet.

Alaric was getting impatient too, and he’s just sent Jed up to the two’s room to get them down already.

When they finally arrive, Josie wanted to run up to Penelope to say hi, but Hope beats her to it when the tribrid smiles at her first before she can even greet them.

 _Great_ , she thinks. _Maybe I won’t talk to her today._

 

* * *

 

 

The trip back to Salvatore was uneventful for Penelope. Though that may be because she’s spent the majority of it sleeping.

She expected to continue her rest when she enters her room, but the universe wasn’t going to let her have that.

Hope enters their room first, and Penelope knew something was up when the tribrid stops in her heels when she opened the door. There’s not a lot that can make the tribrid stop.

And then she hears it.

“Hope Mikaelson.”

The voice sends shivers down her spine.

It’s like a bucket of cold water was dumped on her and she can’t move.

 _It’s time_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very short update just because
> 
>  
> 
> who do you think is in their room tho? hmm


	14. Eight months.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

_Seven days._

One.

Two.

Three.

_Four weeks._

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

_Eight months._

It has almost been eight months since Penelope and Hope left for Asia. It was the trip to remember, and not just for them but for everyone at Salvatore School too. One trip across the ocean. One trip that took one week. One week that took Hope Mikaelson thousands of miles away from Mystic Falls when an army of rogue vampires attacked the Salvatore School in search of her. They were vampires who held a grudge against her father, because of course even from six feet underground Klaus Mikaelson’s dark past follows him and his family. And who else could his enemies hurt that could drive the stake the deepest to Klaus’ heart than his daughter?

The vampires attacked the school in search of Hope. They scoured every nook and cranny of the school. If only they knew that she wasn’t there, none of the students who got hurt protecting the school not knowing what everything was actually about could have been spared. And if they also only knew that if she _was_ there, she’d be in front of them and fighting seconds after they arrived. But everything already happened and eight months later, it seems as if everybody is still paying for the consequences.

And in this fight, it’s Hope and Penelope that seem to be paying the biggest price.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot about this story, I can't believe it's been eight months since my last update wow?
> 
> anyway, this is a filler chapter but I'll try to write more soon, I have a bunch of ideas and am so excited
> 
> also, how are you guys liking the second season of legacies?


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